31st of Octber 1964. An important day for a nation, an important day for a game and for the sport and its fans, but above all an important day for beauty.
On that specific day beauty was reborn in football and was personified by a young boy in such a unique way that he is short-listed as one of the best footballers in the history of the game. And maybe the best expression of fantasy ever.
He sought for the beauty in the game and matched art with many of his movements and touches on the ball, as through the years he (un)conciously was diving more and more in his green ocean of romance.
Chosen three times as his continent's best player of the year and having won the very first election of the World Player of the Year award in 1992 at the age of 28, he hang up his magical boots in that very same year, as he played his last official game in the CL-final that his team lost. In this way, the very same paradox of bitterness and beauty, that had characterized his injury-full carrer, stood at the heart of his last match.
Though he stopped at the age of 28, his place in World Football is undisputed. The honors, prices, personal achievements and records and above all the beauty of his goals earned him the title "San" (saint) in the most religious-sensitive country in Europe.
And now, after having withdrawn from the world of football and publicity for ten years, he is at the helm of his country's football, doing what he always did best: being sincere, searching for beauty and making choices that no other dares to even think of. Last year a psychologist published that after having examined this young man's football carreer, he had come to the conslusion that it concerned a case of "extraordinary highly-gifted motorical intelligence"; meaning that he could see the core of a problem like no other in a split second and choose the best possible option. This explained why he scored so easily and so fantastically. And it is therefore that we should have faith in him as a coach, even though we cannot comprehend all of his decisions.
I too believe that in the very same way that he chose to volley the ball from almost no angle at all into USSR's goal, he is able to pull it off as a coach. The only diference is that in 88 he was the one that executed the plan, and now a whole lot less talented generation of footballers has to execute that plan for him.
Of course you all know who I am talking about. I congragiulate San Marco van Basten's birthday to him, to everybody who loves football and loves beauty and to the game itself. As he is the only Saint I am willing to declare holy.
On that specific day beauty was reborn in football and was personified by a young boy in such a unique way that he is short-listed as one of the best footballers in the history of the game. And maybe the best expression of fantasy ever.
He sought for the beauty in the game and matched art with many of his movements and touches on the ball, as through the years he (un)conciously was diving more and more in his green ocean of romance.
Chosen three times as his continent's best player of the year and having won the very first election of the World Player of the Year award in 1992 at the age of 28, he hang up his magical boots in that very same year, as he played his last official game in the CL-final that his team lost. In this way, the very same paradox of bitterness and beauty, that had characterized his injury-full carrer, stood at the heart of his last match.
Though he stopped at the age of 28, his place in World Football is undisputed. The honors, prices, personal achievements and records and above all the beauty of his goals earned him the title "San" (saint) in the most religious-sensitive country in Europe.
And now, after having withdrawn from the world of football and publicity for ten years, he is at the helm of his country's football, doing what he always did best: being sincere, searching for beauty and making choices that no other dares to even think of. Last year a psychologist published that after having examined this young man's football carreer, he had come to the conslusion that it concerned a case of "extraordinary highly-gifted motorical intelligence"; meaning that he could see the core of a problem like no other in a split second and choose the best possible option. This explained why he scored so easily and so fantastically. And it is therefore that we should have faith in him as a coach, even though we cannot comprehend all of his decisions.
I too believe that in the very same way that he chose to volley the ball from almost no angle at all into USSR's goal, he is able to pull it off as a coach. The only diference is that in 88 he was the one that executed the plan, and now a whole lot less talented generation of footballers has to execute that plan for him.
Of course you all know who I am talking about. I congragiulate San Marco van Basten's birthday to him, to everybody who loves football and loves beauty and to the game itself. As he is the only Saint I am willing to declare holy.
