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Argentine coach Angel Cappa, who was in Spain for the 1982 World Cup, and gleefully recalls that when he was watching Brazil "the ball arrived in one part of the field and disappeared to reappear again in the form of a rabbit and then a dove, and then hide again as the opponents rushed about trying to find it, all of us in the stadium looked at our watches with the intention of making time stand still because we wanted the game to go on for ever".
Brazil's star of the 1950 World Cup, and idol of the young Pele, Zizinho wrote his autobiography in the mid-1980s.
His final words were a warning. "In Brazil," he wrote, "we have given the central midfielder, who has 70% of the team's possession in his power, the specific function of destroying, when it should be to create the moves."
In part this was a response to increasing lack of job security for the coaches. Fear of losing led to safety-first football.
But also it was guided by a perceived importance of the physical development of the game.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28121729
Brazil's star of the 1950 World Cup, and idol of the young Pele, Zizinho wrote his autobiography in the mid-1980s.
His final words were a warning. "In Brazil," he wrote, "we have given the central midfielder, who has 70% of the team's possession in his power, the specific function of destroying, when it should be to create the moves."
In part this was a response to increasing lack of job security for the coaches. Fear of losing led to safety-first football.
But also it was guided by a perceived importance of the physical development of the game.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28121729
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