Greatness inspires imitation
What do Mathias Soule, Franco Mastantuano and Nico Paz all have in common? Apart from being some of the most exciting players in Europe and the obvious sharing of nationality, they’re all left-footed, enigmatic attackers who thrive when they’re running at players and causing chaos for opposition backlines.
Argentina in general have seen a rise in exceptionally talented forwards over the last 5 years who all seem like they have the potential to get to that elite level if their development goes accordingly. The national team currently play the most entertaining football out of all the big teams with their fluid, one touch, pass-and-move style of play being a joy to watch in comparison to the more robust and pragmatic styles we see from a coach such as Didier Deschamps, or perhaps even Thomas Tuchel. To me there is one clear reason why Argentinian football is blossoming just after their 2022 World Cup win and it begins with an L and rhymes with Pesci.
Extending this out to other nations, It’s the same reason why Spain will never have a shortage of wonderfully technical central midfielders and why Italy will always produce elite centre-backs but why their quality of attackers have diminished. It’s why France have a wonderful pool of forwards with a perfect blend of poise and power to choose from and why England keep producing the all-rounder, ground-eating midfielder archetype so consistently.
Greatness inspires imitation.
Idols exist in all walks of life, from music to our day-to-day boring 9-5s, everyone has people they look up to for whatever reason. In Argentina, every young child for the last 15 years has all shared the same idol and his name is Lionel Messi. Young children in Buenos Aires, Rosario and all over the country have grown up with the best footballer of all time sharing their passport and the effect this has created on Argentine football can’t be put into numbers. Every diminutive and shy kid with a burning passion for the beautiful game can look at Messi on the TV and see not one of the greatest sportsmen to ever exist, but a reflection of themselves. They all want to play like him, they all are inspired every day to be daring, creative and find solutions on the pitch where they don’t look possible. They all want to be magicians.
It creates a nation of young footballers that are all aspiring towards the same goals, developed in academies which no doubt have been inspired by Messi to create environments that push individuality and creativity instead of completely focusing on the physical tools to succeed at the highest level, which other countries might prioritise. Every young left-footed attacker will look at him and think, ‘that can be me one day’ and what we are seeing now is the exact result of his greatness.
Most football fans are guilty of growing up and wanting to play like their favourite player. In fact, can you call yourself a fan if you haven’t been outside tirelessly trying to perfect a skill or goal that you saw your hero produce on TV? .
We’ve all done it.
This can potentially explain why Italy has seen such a dearth of flamboyant, one-of-a-kind centre forwards that they produced so regularly in the 90s and early 2000s. I’m sure there were plenty of children who grew up watching Del Piero, Totti, Di Natale, Zola and others and said they wanted to be exactly like their heroes. But football had moved past small and technical 9s/10s by the 2010s and by the time these guys were reaching those years where their development and coaching became a bit more targeted and focused, they were shunned out to the wide areas or slowly fazed out of the academy system altogether because they were too small. That’s the harsh reality of the cyclical nature of football. It leaves great players behind and can damage a decade of a national team’s footballing identity.
Spanish kids watch Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta. They turn up to training the next day and try and do the things they saw them do. Brazilians watch Neymar, Robinho and Ronaldinho take the mick out of defenders so easily and spend their next hours practicing rainbow flicks and elasticos on the street.
It’s what makes football the best sport in the world and it’s what shapes the footballing culture of most nations out there. Sometimes we don’t need to over complicate matters as much as we like to do. Kids want to be like their heroes. In Argentina, everyone shares the same hero and so the result will be a bunch of Messi-like clones all coming to fruition in the next few years who will bring a smile to your face whenever they step onto the pitch
Academies will push young footballers to play in such ways to an extent, but for them to find and develop the next Gerrard or the next Ferdinand, you need hundreds of thousands of kids who want to play like them in the first place.
That’s what legacy is.
