The Decline of Intuition in Football

Football is a game of pure magic, never mind that it can a while to get the hang of the rules past emphasized the role of basic instincts in football and the need to refine basic instincts to become a better footballer- sizing up a moment and deciding what to do in a couple of seconds; which was a feature in the careers of players such as Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Romario, Ronaldinho, Diego Maradona, to mention but a few.

This intuition allowed players to become inventors or be associated with a certain skill set, e.g., Ronaldinho had the elastico as his signature move, Zidane had the roulette, and Ronaldo De Lima was associated with the stepovers.

On his part, Andres Iniesta created La Croqueta -  and the Cryuff turn was named after Johan Cryuff- never mind that the move had been performed many years before y the great Pele. The emphasis here is not on skills but the freedom and presence of mind to seize the day under pressure, e.g., in the 2009 quarter-final of the Champions League, Manchester United's winger, Cristiano Ronaldo, took a shot from about 40yards that sailed into the back of the net which turned out to be the goal that qualified United for the next round.

Speaking about the goal, Ronaldo said, "I looked at goalkeeper and thought, 'why not?"Rio Ferdinand- his  teammate at the time- speaking on the same goal as a pundit "I was at the back saying 'pass, pass, pass! next thing I was screaming" goaaaaaaaaaaaal!