Dude, 4th of July
Compassion yields courage; the old master Lao Tzu wrote a whole poem about it. Courage is the midpoint between paralysing anxiety and recklessness; disregard for personal harm, a dead Greek sage, Aristotle, called it a virtue. Being courageous involves risk, a personal stake, and a line of knowledge about when an action is courageous has a risk of harm and doing it anyway; being brave or reckless and stupid is often judged by those not trying, only sitting aside and judging.
This dude offers another way: the Wū Weí, the path of ease. Defend like your hair is on fire and attack like you have all the time in the world. The Spaniards were regaining the ball in 14 seconds because they made the shortest pass and went right back the way they were facing the majority of the time. When they had space, they would dribble, but man did they pass. The French same strategy; the side that has looked great did it. Push to get the ball back 1-2 guys right away, and the spread-out short passes move for the ball carrier and do not bother with brave, reckless or deciding; just be easy.
We enjoyed this worthy adversary the last time out, but they were loose with their challenges, especially in the middle of the park. We have a league-appointed omnipotent overload for the fine contest to make their job easy. A hand up for appeal, integrity and thank you, sir, but don’t advocate or solicit them even if they are cute. No drama; we have done well if you get hot under the collar, sub off before you make choices you will regret. This phase of the season, most of all, “just play”: keep it simple, pass, talk (man on, carry, carry-outside, turn…). We have skills, we have speed(well, @Rye and @Tiki do), we have each other, and humility yields cooperation. None of us can do it all, but we can do anything together. A couple of passes in the box for a tap-in from the six, and @C looked like he planned it @Oggy looked like he meant it. Brilliant those easy plays for each other; those are the fun ones.
Te Wero
Play
Easy + No Drama = Flow
Yo-Ho, Let’s Rol