Poetry in Motion

Samba Soccer and Calypso Cricket   

By Sham Samaroo

June 1, 2002

Soccer is the world’s most popular sport and soccer’s World Cup is the world’s most popular sporting event. Like cricket’s World Cup, it is held every four years. Qualifications begin some two years prior to the finals with 150 odd countries participating in some 550 games to determine the 32 Finalists. 

But what really is soccer?  The celebrated journalist and sportswriter, Paul Gardner, believes soccer means different things to different people. To the spiritually inclined it is a religion, while to the aesthete it is an art form.

The Brasilian style of soccer, jogo bonito, is arguably the most beautiful and exciting in the world. The Brasilians play their soccer in much the same way as  West Indians play their cricket – with passion and panache. They understand that the game is nothing more than a sport, and like all sports, its purpose is to entertain. Asking Brasilians to play defensive soccer is like asking Rohan Kanhai to play for a draw. 

...despite the presence of Pele, it was the flair, the dashing elegance, of teammate Garrincha, known as the Little Bird, who mesmerized the soccer world. ...And who does that remind us of in West Indies cricket? Why, Rohan Kanhai, the Little Master, of course.

•  In the early years of Brasilian soccer, we had Leonidas, affectionately known as the "Black Diamond". While in the early years of West Indies cricket, the hero was George Headley affectionately known as the “Black Bradman”.  
•  Pele and Sobers share the distinction as the greatest players ever in their respective sports. They both exploded onto the international scene in the same year.  In 1958 in Sweden, Pele scored his first goal and led Brasil to their first World Cup title. In the same year, Sobers scored his first century, a record breaking 365 not out against Pakistan. 

  

• In the late fifties and sixties, despite the presence of Pele, it was the flair, the dashing elegance, of teammate Garrincha [pictured left], known as the Little Bird who mesmerized the soccer world.  In fact, Garrincha’s signature play was his amazing footwork. Often, he left the opposition dizzy with his brilliance and then, his job completed; he would pass the ball to one of his teammates who invariably finished it off with a goal. And who does that remind us of in West Indies cricket? 

    Why, Rohan Kanhai, the Little Master [pictured right] - of course. It was Kanhai who would launch the early assault on the opposition and then leave the mopping up job to the later batsmen. 

In the same way that cricket fans worldwide have come to expect calypso cricket or carnival cricket from the West Indians, soccer fans worldwide look for jogo bonito or samba soccer from the Brasilians.  At the World Cup in1982 and again four years later in Mexico in 1986, the Brasilians failed to win the coveted trophy, but it was their brilliance that fans remember to this day. And it was also in the 1980s that calypso cricket reached dizzying heights as West Indies took the cricket world by storm.  

But, as in cricket so in soccer, money and winning at all cost became more important than the game itself. Entertainment became an inconvenience. In the 90s - the era of coaches, theories and game plans - both Brasil and West Indies betrayed the spirit of their game. Brasilian Coach, Lazaroni, began talking about strategy, defense first, playing not to lose rather than to win. At the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Brasil’s vice captain, Dunga, boasted that there would be no more jogo bonito, that “this was the Brasil of sweat and sacrifice”. Pele was furious.  He felt that Brasil had betrayed their fans and that they would lose the moment they played a top team.  Pele was right, Brasil lost in the very next round to Argentina and were eliminated. Unlike 1982 and 1986 when the fans felt that the very soul had been taken out of the tournament after Brasil lost, this time around they were glad to see them leave. One banner at the stadium read: If Lazaroni is a Coach, then I am the Pope.  

The very thing happened to the West Indies at the 1999 World Cup in England. They lacked both creativity and spontaneity, the very essence of Calypso cricket. The West Indians were such a disappointment that no one paid attention when they were eliminated. In 2000 when West Indies eked out a win against Pakistan, the Man of the Match Award went to Pakistan’s Wasim Akram for his outstanding bowling feat!  On the final day, needing 72 runs for victory, it took West Indies 41 overs to complete the win!  Indeed Akram’s performance was, perhaps, the only memorable moment in a game that the sooner it’s forgotten the better. Getting excited about this victory tells us much about sports today.  

 Entertainment?  Perish the thought! God forbid that a player should try to be spontaneous. Today it’s the corporate approach with little room for individuality or style. Coaches admire this kind of play because it represents all the things that seem important to today’s game. Nothing breathtaking or elegant, mind you – just dogged, deliberate, and defensive.  How dare the purists mix business with pleasure?  And I thought it was only a game – my sincerest apologies!

Will things get any better? Probably not.  

*Written in 2002 prior to the FIFA's World Cup