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Dunga's England Critique Highlights Role of BSS |
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Brazil manager Dunga's critique of England's performance during the former's 1-0 defeat of the Three Lions, particularly that Fabio Capello's men must "learn how to dribble", resonated with the International Confederation of Futebol de Salao (ICFDS).
While certain sections of the fans and media will point to the absence of players such as Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and John Terry, Dunga continued to overlook players such as Ronaldinho and Adriano and, in truth, Brazil were never forced into fully exerting themselves as England struggled to find any sort of rhythm.
The Selecao also missed a penalty and struck the post while Capello's side toiled unsuccessfully, and the gulf in technical ability between the two sides was clear for all to see despite the occasion bening little more than a friendly.
"England must learn how to dribble through us, that's what you have to do," Dunga said.
"I think it is about the technical quality and also the physical condition.
"I always say to my players that their time in the national team seems long but it is, in fact, very short.
"You must enjoy your time, enjoy the moment. England just had 11 men behind the ball."
Both the Brazilian Soccer Schools (BSS) - the world's largest football coaching organisation, working with children aged 5 - 18 years - and SOCATOTS - the world's first soccer-specific programme for children aged six months to five years, hopes to remedy this, both in terms of technical ability and physical conditions.
When SOCATOT graduates enter the BSS programme, the syllabus continues to centre around individual and paired learning using techniques founder Simon Clifford developed from the ideas of Brazilian youth development.
In particular, players such as Pele, Zico, Ronaldinho and Kaka credit their own ability to the game of Futebol de Salao - played with small-sided teams and a size two, weighted football - and and the hours they spent honing their skills, time that surpasses that of even the most-successful professionl clubs in this country.
When Dunga, himself a distinguished player, talks about condition, he refers to the way in which Brazilian players train upwards of 20 hours a week whereas their English counterparts train a maximum of six, a factor that has underpinned Simon's own aims of reform within the game as much as his calls for greater technical proficiency.
Simon has, from 1997 on, stressed the need to improve physical condition, allied to a push for greater technical proficiency, both of which have been at the heart of Clifford's message since his first visit to Brazil some thirteen years ago.
He has often been irked that while all talk on the technical level of the Brazilians, the other area, where Clifford also sees them as world leaders, is all too often overlooked.
While Dunga's team has adopted a pragmatic, organised approach, criticised for the lack of flair but progressing with ease through the South American phase of World Cup 2010 qualifying, their superior individual technique allowed them to cut through the England defence with ease.
Whether it was Nilmar and Luis Fabiano in attack or Maicon down the wing, there was an element of surprise about Brazil's advances that England - overly reliant on Wayne Rooney, the Manchester United striker who was forced to drop deeper and deeper to gain possession of the ball - can but dream of at this stage.
Granted, Capello has begun to oil the ship that is the Three Lions, enabling Gerrard and Lampard to play alongside each other amongst other feats, but England remain effective rather than exciting, predictable to the extent that once Brazil had steadied in the game they were rarely troubled in a defence so often cited as a weakness.
A session using Futebol de Salao has been proven to offer students eight times more touches of the ball than a conventional English coaching session, and BSS already has a host of graduates working their way up in the professional game that are the beginning of what promises to be a Brazilian-esque conveyor belt of talent.
Manchester City and England defence Micah Richards demonstrated his potential early on in his career, whilst the likes of Rooney himself, Theo Walcott, John Bostock and Aidan White are just some of the names to benefit from the innovative coaching approach.
Head of BSS Richard Sutherland said: "We're still in the early stages of our work, but the game between Brazil and England demonstrated that whilst Fabio Capello has improved his side ten-fold, particularly in terms of discipline, they still trail behind Brazil in terms of technique.
"A basic requirement of the game is the ability to dribble with the ball, something the game of Futebol de Salao develops, but when England's passing game faltered they had no plan B." |
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Quotes
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"I have developed my skills playing Futebol de Salão in my home town of Bauru." |
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