10/7/2019 An Interpretation of Football — It's Just a Sport

D A V I D G A R C I A · J U LY 9, 2 0 1 8

An Interpretation of
Football
“When you write a book, you spend day
after day scanning and identifying the
trees. When you’re done, you have to step
back and look at the forest.”
— STEPHEN KING

We are in dire of critical thinkers in football development. The

types of thinkers who are willing to delve into matters that go
past the super ciality of the game. Where most people stop at
the scoring opportunity missed in the 86th minute as the
reason for a team losing, the critical thinker analyses
everything that came before, not just within that sequence or
the match but instead is willing make the e ort to further
understand, and possibly uncover certain uncomfortable truths
about the way something has been done in the past or is being
done at the moment.  

This kind of critical analysis requires one to look within the

problem, and in many cases look outward towards a greener
pasture. However, the gaze towards more successful external
0

paths can never be with thoughts of jealousy or resentment
https://www.itsjustasport.com/home/2018/7/10/an-interpretation-of-football 1/5
10/7/2019 An Interpretation of Football — It's Just a Sport

because this leads to excuses and dismissals of impossibility.

The investigative search of those who appear to be on the right
track should be with objectivity and critical reasoning. They
require such skills that allow the ndings to include the root of
the success, the principles behind the magic. Not to copy the
nal product but to understand how the product was created
and apply the fundamentals to our own situation. This is not
easily done and few professionals are capable of this. 

I believe that Ignacio Benedetti has this ability. He is a

Venezuelan sports journalist, although this title doesn’t do him
justice. I’d go as far as to call him a football scholar, intellectual,
and academic. His knowledge of footballing history is
outstanding but as if that wasn’t enough, he has the
wordsmanship of a lyrical savant. He’s written some of the
most beautiful pieces I’ve ever read. Needless to say, I hold his
opinion in high esteem. 

Read: Learning to Learn: How football can teach us

Upon the nalisation of this World Cup’s quarter nals phase,

when the four European semi nalists were known, Ignacio
discussed the matter on a live video. Instead of criticising the
South American federations, the coaches, the players, he dug
deeper and believed to have identi ed the di erence that
makes European football the world’s elite. 

In the following eight-minute video, which I have translated for

my English speaking audience, he begins with some history of
international football. He discusses the greats from the 1930’s
and the 1950’s, teams like Hungary and Austria, who are
currently irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. He makes a
case that Europeans and South American sides have always
been on a level playing eld, technically, physically, and
tactically. 

However, in the last 20 years, European football has undergone

an intellectual renaissance which has left other countries
lagging behind. The type of development which adds another
element to the traditional three aspects, technique, tactics,
and physical, and in my opinion, encapsulates the whole of the
game. Europeans have fully accepted and implemented
comprehension and the cognitive process required from the
0
game into their player development. Benedetti strongly

https://www.itsjustasport.com/home/2018/7/10/an-interpretation-of-football 2/5
10/7/2019 An Interpretation of Football — It's Just a Sport

believes this is the reason for the European dominance in

recent years. 

He describes this interpretation as such “Interpretation is to

know what the game demands in certain situations. It doesn't
always demand to run, to tackle, a long pass, a short pass, or a
dribble. But yes, the game has all that and much more, and
from each starting point, each situation the game emerges, the
footballer should be equipped to decide, to decide with what
they've been trained in and what they have within themselves.
The footballer isn't a machine nor a robot. That's why when we
talk about automatisms, we're very mistaken because
automatisms only have to do with computers. Human beings
react to what we have, what we've practiced, what's
within, but we don't react to an instruction. Instead,
everything that is trained or practiced is archived within our
being. So the decision-making process is so fast and
instantaneous that the footballer is going to decide without
thinking but because they've trained, they've made it their
own, and they feel it in a certain way, and they identify each
emergence and situation to apply every one of their resources.”

The parts are not the sum. The pieces are not the whole. The
separate aspects are not the game. 

I have been fortunate enough to see the European renaissance

in practice. Having been a frustrated American coach starting
out six years ago, I decided to take my learning to Spain. Two
UEFA courses and several years experience coaching within
the Spanish system later, I now understand exactly what Mr.
Benedetti is referring to. 

Read: The Principle of Play

Technique requires tactics, and vice-versa. These are elements

of the game that cannot be broken away like Lego blocks from
the nished toy to later be t back in. They are interdependent,
they need one another. And not only has European football
kept them together but they’ve applied certain interpretations
of the game which serves as their blueprint for how those
elements work together. 

Above all, behind the curtain, the foundation of everything is

0
the importance to teach footballers to decide. European

https://www.itsjustasport.com/home/2018/7/10/an-interpretation-of-football 3/5
10/7/2019 An Interpretation of Football — It's Just a Sport

countries have consistently focused their player development

on the decision-making process. Because at the end of the day,
no matter how athletic, technical, or tactically competent you
are, if you cannot decide correctly every time within the
milliseconds the game provides, you will fail in modern football.
 

Benedetti gives us the example of the Venezuelan player

performing his preseason training on the beach with a
parachute. This is so far removed from the context of the
game, it can’t even be the same sport anymore. The more and
more we add, the more we distance ourselves from the game,
and the further we are from ever comprehending it, from
conceiving our own interpretation of it. As Benedetti points out
in the last sentence of the video, “To comprehend and
understand football, one has to adapt and to adapt one must
have knowledge.” I’d go a step further and say that knowledge
has to be peeled away to reveal the basics. For when we fully
grasp the principles of the game will we be capable of
comprehending the complexity of what we see.

If you are interested in training session guides or in our video

consultancy service, you can nd everything in the Training
Guide section as well as a 'Free Sample'.

The
Analysis
of
Football
-
Ignacio
Benedetti
from It's
Just
a
Sport

07:58

https://www.itsjustasport.com/home/2018/7/10/an-interpretation-of-football 4/5
10/7/2019 An Interpretation of Football — It's Just a Sport

PREVIOUS
Move the Opponent, Not the Ball
ARTICLE

NEXT
The Principle Behind Lukaku's Run
ARTICLE

C O N TA C T

https://www.itsjustasport.com/home/2018/7/10/an-interpretation-of-football 5/5