For those players amongst us who are of average talent, there are ways to increase your chance to become a professional soccer player. One of these ways to increase your chances is to be part of a team without the overly-gifted players. By focusing on team building, instead of relying on star players, you increase soccer decentralization. Although these players are great for entertainment and the sport in general, they tend to cause centralization of your team
What Is Centralization?
Centralization happens in soccer when the team passes to certain players at a high(er) rate. These are usually star players that all the other players want to pass to. If a soccer team is limited to only 1 or 2-star players, the team is less likely to do well. While teams that have more decentralization (passing and interaction between more players at a high rate), can perform better. Let’s have a look at some examples of decentralized soccer.
Examples include
- The Dutch Squat of 1974-1978. Although the total football squad of 1974 is associated with Johan Cruyff, without Johan Cruyff, the team came nearer to the world cup title than with him. Total Football principles are in agreement with decentralized soccer. The notion that every player can play in every position means that there is no real central man to constantly pass to.
- AZ Alkmaar with their 2005-2009 squad. During this period, many average players formed a spectacular team. During this AZ became champions in Holland and reach the semi-finals in the UEFA-CUP. This squat was notorious for having great players, but no superstars were present. The great players from this squat did not succeed in other teams.
- South Korea in the 2002 world cup. South Korea had a great team effort and reached the semifinals, defeating Italy, Spain and Portugal. The Korean team excelled in team play and conditioning and did not rely on star players.
Passing Is Like Complex Communication
In the 1950’s mathematicians experimented with different communication models, they found that simple problems could be solved with a wheel configuration. However, complex situations and problems require a more decentralisation approach. See the different styles of communication.
The research applied the same ideas of communication to soccer and passing and found that soccer communication resembles complex problem solving and that a decentralized approach is more productive than a centralized approach.
“The first hypothesis suggests that network intensity or an increased overall level of interaction (controlling for opportunities for interaction) leads to better team performance. The second hypothesis suggests that network centralization decreases team performance. In other words, a team does not perform as well as it could when the team production process is centralized.”
Only Get A Star Player In A Good Team
A player gets compared to its team players, within a team. To create balance in a team, there has to be a large enough base (number of players) of quality, before a star player can add value. Many youth teams have a star player that cannot add value. Many times the star player gets blocked by defenders or the space created by the star player, doesn’t get used by other players. While in a good team the players don’t have rely on their star player and can benefit from the space created by the star player.
Decentralization At A 10.000 Meter View
Just as a team’s performance can be increased with a decetralizesed approach, progressed can be made with soccer leagues. As economic and political power becomes decentralized teams win more and increase their perfomanace, as one recent study notes:
We show that decentralization of economic and political power makes a substantial difference in football. Decentralization increases the competitive balance of domestic football leagues and creates an advantage for clubs from decentralized countries in international competitions.. The degree of countries’ political and economic decentralization positively increases the likelihood of winning football international trophies.
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