Magical Greatness?

Greatness is magical. Pelé, the greatest soccer talent of them all scored his best goal in magical circumstances. There were no cameras to witness it, only a few thousand spectators. It is said there was magic in the air the night he beat an entire team on his own and flighted the ball into the net. Necks tingled, purple and orange cloud stratas soaked the pitch in a magical light. A legend was truly was born, this was pure beautiful game.

Fast forward to our age of digital capture and high speed knowledge. You could be forgiven for thinking that there can be no more magical, mythical greatness in the beautiful game. No more legends of god-like strikers racing past defences and hammering in unstoppable shots or hazy technicolour memories of long-haired artist wingers mesmerising hapless defenders. Today, genius is stifled by the proximity of scrutiny and the thirst of media satisfaction. Pelé was never forced into endless money making stunts and it showed.

Ronaldinho, the most strikingly exciting player since Maradona is a tragic example of the destructive power of our desire to witness greatness. There is nothing mythical about Ronaldinho. For the past four seasons his enormous talents have become the property of a marketing machine seemingly intent on wringing every last shimmy and turn, dribble and shot from his sporting soul. It is doubtful that he has enjoyed any kind of break in that time from the demands made of his talent. Any hint of magic is exposed under the demanding lights of a sport which is slowly killing what makes it so special. Ronaldinho looks like he is suffering from burn-out. This is extremely sad.

We aren't allowed to imagine or wonder, there is no room for dreams - magic has been siphened from the people's game. This is a desperate situation. Soccer lives and breathes on the stuff. Multi angle action is great, but isn't the power of imagination worth preserving?

Any star who looks like emerging is quickly under pressure to meet the satisfaction of 'commitment'. One example, Lionel Messi, looks like the typical kid who plays for fun and to a standard that has greatness written all over it, but for how long? Eventually he will surely fall victim to the same burn-out as his team-mate.

Inspiration is, however, coming from the future heartland of the game, Africa. To witness first hand the exciting talents unblemished by the contsant visual attack modern football has swamped us with is enthralling. Players play without fear, without preconceived ideas of what a footballer should be. There is no desire to emulate a television advert, but to play this great sport. The next great player will surely come from Africa. The next Pelé, a player playing for the love of the game, free from destructive commercial pressures.

Wherever the next Pelé comes from the question is will football allow this player to weave magic and reach greatness free from heavy media pressure? Hopefully the answer is yes. Soccer needs to allow its future stars to breathe, to enjoy their talents and to reach greatness.