The silent strategist

Rage? Just sometimes

Rage usually has its moment of glory in the last minutes of games, when desperation forgets about tactics and sets out to overwhelm. But it is an exceptional state of mind. You can't play an entire game angry. The history of football has shown us that patience, less famous, is much more effective than anger in the development of a match. When Spanish football was confused with “fury” it did not achieve anything significant, much less international respect. When the style was expressed with calm passes that dominated the game to later win them with intelligent accelerations, Spain was a world reference. To accelerate Real Madrid they have plenty of resources. He has the fast feet of Vinicius, the delicate scooter race of Rodrygo, that exquisite beast that is the spectacular Bellingham and, as a final contribution, the mental and physical agility of Brahim.

Patience as a value

In the middle of the field the team has plenty of energy. Tchouameni's dominant presence, which will explode; the spirited Valverde; the ultra dynamic Camavinga; the exciting Modric… But if we talk about patience, the person who makes it is Toni Kroos. Roberto Perfumo, famous Argentine central defender of the 70s, said that “football is a bodily thought.” If that is true, Kroos has an incomparable neural network that descends from the brain to the feet to teach. As a German he has the confidence and an elegant arrogance that does not offend. He moves through the countryside as if it belonged to him, as if he had lived there since time immemorial. He knows what each area requires, the spaces free of intruders, the holes where a ball fits. He loses few balls and always chooses his destination, speed, and intention well. As if his refined football sprang from an elegant and precise technique.

Invisible to everyone except the ball

I guess at this point in the article you have already understood that I love Kroos. That glance that covers the entire field, sometimes to play short, other times to change the front of the play with measured passes of forty meters, makes him the nerve center of the team. Wherever you are. So great is his influence that he is able to make the game revolve around him standing at left back. His football is silent, to the point that there are people who do not see it, even opponents who seem to ignore his weight in the game. At the end of the game he is always the one with the most interventions and one wonders: how can it be that they don't see him, that they don't appreciate his relevance, his influence on the game? This week it was Isco who made it visible, asking him not to leave football, to at least continue for two or three more years so that we can enjoy it.

Pleasure and need

But before a matter of pleasure, its presence is an imperative necessity. Because Madrid is full of quality players and, surely, at the end of the season more seductive stars will arrive who will attract attention due to their spectacular nature. But be careful, because in that stellar squad there is only one strategist and his name is Toni Kroos. He dominates, harmonizes and distributes the game, making the team look like a team and not like loose players. In this increasingly physical football, what a pleasure it is to see intelligence taking control of the games at a trot, without showing muscle and without any rush. That is the style of the most productive invisible in world football. Don't miss it, there are few copies left in this category and they are essential.

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