Learning to kick the ball: The different football styles

Football is the world’s most popular sport and has been dubbed “the beautiful game.” Though it may seem like you can boil the sport down to” kick the ball hard,” there’s actually a lot going on in a game of football. In this series, “Learning to Kick the Ball,” we bring you the football basics to help those new to the sport learn to become beautiful, or at least be part of the beautiful game. We start with a macro view by way of an introduction on how each major football country has their own style and technique, usually suited to their climates and the quality of their pitches. Our focus will lie first on England, Spain and Italy, the biggest nations in Europe for football. Their domestic leagues have, by in large, produced the greatest teams, and English, Spanish or Italian sides have won the Champions League 12 times in the last 14 years. And we’ll also give a special mention to Brazil, whose domestic league may not be the best, but as a nation, has dominated the world. England England is a very cold place, and there are two ways of keeping warm in that kind of weather. There’s putting on a lot of layers of clothes and turning the heating up, or running round a lot. Only one of those is useful in football, so England developed a very physical style, where players try to outrun defenders, use their strength to protect the ball and cross the ball into the box to use their height. The most successful team in English history is Manchester United and in their glory days, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane and David Beckham were the epitome of English-style dribbling, tackling, passing and crossing, respectively. Despite being Welsh, Gareth Bale could be considered the epitome of English football now, with his blistering pace and direct style. Stoke City is a traditional British team, with their tall, athletic players who will shove their opponents around and their put-it-up-in-the-air-and-try--to-head-it-in attacking style. However, Stoke is “just” a decent team and the squad probably sums up English football best: England invents the sport but then the rest of the world beats them at it. Spain Spanish football is dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona. They are the two richest and the two most successful clubs in Spanish history and have between them, won the Spanish league for the last seven years. Real Madrid has also won the most Champions League titles of any team in the world, though Barcelona is the current champion and has won three times in the last six years. Spanish football has become a more fluid, passing style of football, with short passes working around the opponents in what’s called “tiki taka”. Spain as a nation was considered a good but underachieving side, until they mastered this style, and now they are the reigning Euro and World champions. Italy In Italy the object of football is to outwit your opponent in what has been branded fantasia, the idea of bringing a fantasy to your opponent by making him believe something will happen and then doing the exact opposite to beat them. The intellectual aspect of Italian football is also why players can often go beyond usual ages. At one point AC Milan’s players on defense were all over 35 years old. A smart defender is better than a strong or fast defender in Italy. Creating a fantasy or illusion and deluding the opponent is integral to the game, which is probably why they dive and roll around more than the other countries.   Also as a result, the best talents from Italy are usually the smartest. Francesco Totti was the creative spark and an Italian legend for helping his nation to win a World Cup, despite corruption in the domestic game. Brazil For a long time, Brazil’s style of play became “the” way to play football, not just because it was very successful, but because it was attractive to boot. Confusing opponents with elaborate moves the Brazilian way was akin to a dance and Brazil has won five World Cups as a result. The battle between the best two players in the world, namely Portugese Christiano Ronaldo and Argentine Lionel Messi, is also largely down to these styles, the so-called Brazilian samba versus tiki taka, respectively. Adapting to the Styles If you’re a defender, then, recognizing the different styles is important. The English will run past you, the Spanish will pass ‘round you, Italians will outwit you, and the Brazilians will dance ‘round you. Each style has their advantages and each style brings unique challenges to a defense. In the Philippines, football is in its infancy. Simon McMenemy played a very defensive style looking to eke out draws. During McMenemy's stint as the Azkals drew almost half their games under the English Coach. The German Hans Michael Weiss took over in the boom of Philippine football and tried to bring about an actual style of play to win matches in addition to playing defense. With different tools both coaches were successful and adopted their different styles because it was the best way to win as many games as possible with the players and infrastructure around them. Now the challenge is to develop a uniquely Filipino style of football which suits the height and skill of the players to be as successful as possible. -- AMD/ELR, GMA News Next on Learning to Kick the Ball: A look at the most successful leagues in the world