It's disappointing to see how football, the world's No. 1 sport, is not No. 1 when it comes to development. It seems to me that a wealth of practical football knowledge is being squandered.
Interpretation
Football has immense popularity but lacks development in foundational skills.
Johan Cruyff expresses his disappointment that while football is the most popular sport globally, it fails to emphasize proper development of players and the sport itself. He highlights that the potential knowledge about football is not being utilized effectively, which could lead to its growth and improved performance.
In practice
During a sports seminar discussing youth training programs.
Ajax is a multicultural club, and we have found that many talented immigrant players quit when they reach puberty. So we wanted to tackle this problem with someone from the same background who had come through it. And that was Edgar Davids. During one of our fights, I pointed that out to him. But it had nothing to do with his skin colour.
Football is not about suffering. It's about enjoyment. Control the ball, be friendly with it, try to attack, try to score goals. Of course defending is part of it, but you can defend in a lot of ways.
If you look at other countries, you see they have different values: defend more, pass the ball out more, winning is holy. In England, you could say that sport itself is holy. They say, 'Look, guys, it's about more than just winning.'
If you take golf, you have a teacher for the drive, a teacher for the approach play, and a teacher for the putt. That's three specialist coaches for one player. In football, one coach looks after 25 players.
The most important part are the fans, that people going home are happy. It's their time off, and you should give them something to enjoy.
Football is about having the best offensive play possible. I always like to play offensive football, and nobody will convince me otherwise.
Everybody thinks this is a tough man's sport. This is not a tough man's sport. This is a thinking man's sport. A tough man is gonna get hurt real bad in this sport.
It makes great conversation to discuss what's wrong with open-wheel racing today.
Not many people get that opportunity: cricket in India, playing against India in a World Cup semi-final is special, and something to appreciate and look forward to.
You can't second-guess baseball. You can't second-guess yourself.
It's never over until we're shaking hands at the net. Then you've either won or you've lost, and - either way - you look them in the eye and say, 'Well played, mate.'
It doesn't matter which era you play in. Wickets are the only way you can contain. Restricting the batsmen to six runs in the first over may look okay but in the next over they will hammer the other bowler. Giving ten runs and taking a wicket - I'll take that any day.
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