Straight Ball Sight | What am I talking about when I talk about "individual heroism" at the European Cup?

Yingxian said

2024-06-24 23:41Published in Zhejiang Former Sports Weekly International Department reporter and senior sports creator

The question of "heroism" in football was something I talked about by chance while talking to a friend today, but I'd be interested in saying something else.

First of all, I think that individual heroism is not just a football need, but the ultimate emotional need of all mankind. Putting these two side by side is actually a bit of a private thing: because I prefer to think about football from an emotional point of view.

But here is a question that must be clarified: what is "individual heroism" in football? I think to see this problem, about 90% of my friends will have Maradona in their heads, followed by Messi, Ronaldo, Baggio and so on. It's not accidental, after all, they've all reached some kind of state -

Like a god, he single-handedly changed the game, and then changed the fate of the team, and then affected the feelings and spirit of hundreds of millions of fans.

If this is not called individual heroism, what else can it be called? And if football is missing this part, what is left?

So at this level, there's really very little that can be discussed. At most, it is just the "solitary force" behavior that we as ordinary people usually hate when we play ball. No matter when and where it goes, this cannot be applied with "heroism", but is just the arrogant instinct of people with intolerant cognition out of their own low style.

Secondly, I actually have a kind of worry - is football the same in the eyes of all of us? Because of the inclusiveness of the Internet, we are always surprised or disgusted to see certain statements that are too different from our perceptions – so I'll start with my opinion.

For football itself, it's just some kind of collective activity with a sense of winning and losing. It's as simple as that. But more than 100 years have passed, and we have indeed turned it into a hodgepodge through all kinds of entrainment of private goods-

In the beginning, we added some beauty and pleasing performativeness;

And then we added a lot of strategies that come with the idea of winning and losing, referred to as "tactics";

We have added a lot of spectacle to it through extensive television broadcasts and modern media technology;

Through the data and statistics beyond the reach of the original human eye and brain, we have turned it into an abstract program.

Finally, as I mentioned above, it has simply become a myriad of bizarre opinions and remarks under the keyboards of hundreds of millions of netizens.

Each of these factors, taken individually, can be seen as something like "football". Which of them require heroism and which ones don't?

So from this layer, it can be seen that what football itself is no longer so critical. The key question is, is football the same in our eyes?

To put it mildly, if you focus on certain opinions and articles that are making waves with traffic, then it is likely that the "football" we recognize is different; I think what's even more terrifying is the things in the rice circle, and I highly recommend that this be included in the category of law and order. It's not what I like, and I don't even want to say a word.

So after the topic of "football in our eyes, it may be different", I can probably finally talk about some of my thoughts on "individual heroism".

As mentioned earlier, its existence is not a problem in itself. But how to recognize this heroism is very important.

For example, I don't hesitate to hide my identity as a "Milan fan" on any occasion. But it's hard for me to say how well I know this team – even the simplest question of 'who is the best striker in Milan's history' doesn't feel like I know the answer.

My answer oscillates between Van Basten and Shevchenko. I don't know what Nodal is like to play, so I can't discuss it at all. I've seen at least some of Basten's things, and I'm more familiar with Sheva.

However, the reasons why I can't make a comparison are not clear in a few words - Basten has more Ballon d'Or, Sheva has more goals, Basten has a lot of talent, Sheva is thunderous, Basten has three musketeers, Sheva has four 10s, Basten retired quickly in Milan, Sheva has been in a slump since leaving Milan...... However, that doesn't seem to be what I'm thinking about at this point.

It's not that I'm biased because I'm familiar with Sheva. I just think that in Milan under Basten he had a lot more team support than when Sheva first arrived in Milan and even for most of his time there. Basten's teammates are stronger.

In the first two seasons of his arrival at Milan, Sheva often had to help Milan win games that were otherwise ugly. The so-called "four 10s" are the story after that.

My choice is in a way a reflection of my understanding of personal heroism, which of course is also related to my own life experience.

In the current environment, a person may be "nothing without the platform", and between the steps before and after graduating from a large factory, handing over the work card and canceling the ERP, he will realize how small his power is - I think only those who have really experienced these can understand how rare and valuable the real "personal heroism" is.

The psychological projection of heroism in our otherwise ordinary lives is what football should be. It's rock solid.

Now it's time for the final summary -

In my eyes, personal heroism is far more than just five or a few people in a row, it can also be Phil Jones lying on the ground and fighting with his opponent's sneaker with his head; It can also be that Hummels single-handedly sent Dort to the Champions League final in two consecutive games against Paris; It can also be Tonik Rose's meticulous passing, one foot at a time, more than a hundred feet in a row; It can even be on the bench secretly supporting his teammates + rivals Kepa Arrizabalaga or Lehmann.

And when I talk about these people and things, I still have a look of respect and even admiration, which is no different from the feelings I had when I first got into football 30 years ago. What I love about this is the emotional touch they bring to me - maybe trickle, maybe it spews, but it's all as real as yesterday.

This kind of heroism is what I love and approve of, and it is far more powerful than Excel sheets and yin and yang weird comments, the latter of which I would treat as if they were nothing before this power.

They are too low to deserve to be in a football discussion.

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