Football is about goals and the players who get them are the game’s most precious practitioners. Next are the play-makers, the creators of chances and suppliers of that final pass or assist. Even goalkeepers stand out at times. They are the only ones allowed to use their hands and sometimes, they make a spectacle out of their acrobatics and reflexes.
Compared to players in these positions, defenders do a dirtier job. It’s not meant to be pleasing on the eye. They block, prevent, spoil and basically try to undo what the opposition is trying to do. It’s an ugly task, devoid largely of the visual or aesthetic appeal that players specialising in other positions can produce. They are the second class citizens of football.
That’s why Franz Beckenbauer will remain one of the most prominent names in the history of the game. He was the first globally acclaimed football superstar – honourable mention, Bobby Moore – whose primary task on the pitch was not to attack. It was not and still not is a fashionable job. The German who died recently, aged 78, made it one. Other than as a World Cup-winning captain and coach, football will remember him for this pioneering performance.
The Ballon d’Or is presented to the best player of the year. The World Cup presents a Golden Ball to the player of the competition. These awards inevitably, almost by definition, go to the goal-getters or play-makers, even goalkeepers at times. Beckenbauer is the only defender to win the Ballon d’Or twice. He was a one-man revolution.
Before Beckenbauer, no football superhero was a defender. Post Second World War until him, the biggest names were Ferenc Puskas, Alfredo Di Stefano, Pele, Garrincha, Johan Cruyff and a few others. Lev Yashin, the Russian goalkeeper, was also a giant of the game. The fierce German who played as an attacker when he was a boy changed world order.
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He had the looks of a poster boy and unmatched elegance. His strides down the middle with the ball, marshalling of the defence as well as distribution were a sight, people say and write. He defined steeliness by playing well over half-an-hour of a World Cup semi-final with a dislocated shoulder. These were add-ons. Beckenbauer was what he was because of his mastery down under, as the shield and not the spear.
There lies the true greatness of this supreme commander of a football match, who was understated yet profound in his performance. Other than changing the destiny of games, he changed perceptions. He demonstrated tellingly that someone whose job is not to play the attractive game can be the most valuable player. He was a pioneer and a path-breaker in that sense, which is not always mentioned in talks on him.
It’s not prudent to assume that the likes of Franco Barresi, Paolo Maldini, Roberto Carlos, Alessandro Nesta, Cafu, Jaap Stam or Rio Ferdinand and Virgil van Dijk are celebrities because Beckenbauer paved the way.
At the same time, chronology shows that before ‘Der Kaiser’ there was no defender worth superstar stature. They did their job, basked in reflected glory and went back home. Beckenbauer was the first defensive global hero. And, none of those who followed came close to what he achieved as a player and coach at the club and international level.
It’s not a beautiful game. It’s a game of blood, sweat and pain. Nobody on the pitch understands this better than a person playing at the back. It’s a high-risk and low-reward assignment. It’s a menial, small job. Never before Beckenbauer and seldom after him has there been a god of these small things.
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