Football: A Social Experiment

I’m going to be up front with this one; if you’re not into football (soccer, for some of you), the rest of this entry will probably mean nothing to you. You’ll probably give this about as much credit as “Big Momma’s House II,” but, if you can, I’d like you to stick with me; football is the world’s game, and its results have significant effects on societies around the world. Our collective psyche as world citizens is greatly impacted by the sport, and there are many conclusions to be drawn from it on all levels of play. If you cannot agree with any of the previous statements, please continue reading; I think the results that I witnessed today could change your mind, if not even spark your interest in the Beautiful Game. But this is a longer post, and it’s not as funny as my previous experiences here, so don’t get your hopes up if you’re in this for the laughs; this is all business, but I felt I had to write it to get my thoughts out.
Today, with five other guys, I set out from my dorm to find a park and get a match going. Our group consisted exclusively of exchange students, and we were remarkably diverse; among our number, everyone had neither the same nationality nor mothertongue. We were one Argentine, one Brazilian, one Finn, one Frenchman, one Dane, and, of course, one Yankee. It took us about half an hour, but we finally found the park we sought. There wasn’t too much action; just a few people having a kick-about, so we found an empty field to play a little three-on-three. Most of you are probably familiar with my high level of coordination, but I honestly didn’t too badly; in the 30 minutes or so that we played 3 on 3, I managed to tap in 3 goals and even stop a few, but the goals were all sitters (all I had to do was be there to poke it in; my teammates did everything else). All I did was avoid mistakes…which is easy enough to do in a six man game. Anyway, we were soon approached by another group of six guys, so the game was easy to piece together. Here’s where things get interesting; imagine the situation. We are six people who, to some extent, cannot communicate fluently. We come from six different countries, and, although all speak varying levels of English, it is easier for all to communicate in German. That is not to say that it is exactly always easy, but we certainly have more limitations than our rivals in the situation, who are all Germans. Here is where the experiment begins: how well will six people, who have problems communicating, fare in a team game against a team that has no problems whatsoever understanding one another? One more fun caveat to this whole thing: no one is really wary to exactly what’s going on here and certainly no one knows what is soon to happen.
The game begins when Nahuel, my Argentine comrade, launches the ball in the air; it now belongs to the first team to obtain it. We have me and Antoine (the Frenchman) playing in the back, me on the right and him on the left; Nahuel, Flavio (the Brazilian), and Jukka (the Finn) in the middle, mixing up specific positions as needed; Mikkel (the Dane) plays up front, roving with the movement of the ball. The Germans had a similar layout of their six men, but at the beginning of the game I’m really more worried with the fact that they, on average, are bigger than us, and the fact that they all seem to be friends, so they’ve probably played together quite a bit more. Furthermore, well aware of my own lacking athleticism, I’d really like to escape this situation without embarrassing myself; being that we’re now playing six on six, the we’re now using is larger, and my worries about defending the goal have similarly doubled.. Oh well, the game’s on; nothing else to do now but give ‘em the old college try. After scrapping about with one another in midfield, we begin to take possession with a prominent degree of dominance. We’re playing very well together by sticking to our positions and moving the ball about quite a bit. When the ball has nowhere else to go, we move it backward and try again. I’m giving it my all not to screw up, and I’m succeeding at this goal; when the ball comes to me, I usually already have a target picked out, and I put it there. When the ball goes forward, I move forward, and, when the ball comes back, I move backward. Fundamentals; easy stuff. I’m no Maradona, but I’m no McManaman either. Things really start going pretty well; I’ve been tested defensively once, and Antoine did so well that all I had to do was clean up and clear the ball out. Within 10 minutes, we’ve put one in the ol’ onion bag; within 20, we’ve got two more. This continues; we are absolutely dominating these Germans. Nahuel is linking with Mikkel like Gerrard and Torres, Jukka and Flavio are winging like Ronaldo, and Antoine is making me look like Carragher. Meanwhile, the Germans look like England trying to qualify for the Euros; I’m on Cloud 9.
After about 45 minutes of this siege on their goal, we decide to mix up teams. Now, Jukka, Mikkel, and I are playing with of the Germans with Antoine, Flavio, and Nahuel naturally on the other side. The game begins anew in a similar manner to the way it had originally; the ball is launched into the air and bodies starting moving. Again, things are similar; possession is scrappy in midfield with no one being able to hold the ball for more than one or two passes. However, the game stays this way. The ball rarely gets far from midfield, and no one can score. Whereas earlier we had seen a goal, albeit tremendously one-sided, almost every 10 to 15 minutes if not faster, now, no one was able to do anything. Possession was given away easily; passes were not linking. It was frustrating, and the game was abandoned after another 30 minutes or so. We shook hands, spoke for a little about the recent Champions’ League draw, made plans to meet again next Friday, and went out separate ways. But, upon closer examination, this was no meaningless public park pick-up game; it definitely has deeper meaning.
Consider this situation (being that the following describes perfectly the scene depicted above): two teams play one another, one consisting of six people that are more or less familiar with one another, if not outright friends, while the other consists of six people that, at the least, are relative strangers who all come from vastly different cultures and speak very different native languages. Both consist of people who are, more than likely, of average athletic talent (probably with the exception of your humble author); this can be inferred from a few pieces of evidence. First, all 12 had enough interest in playing the sport to go out to a park on a day in which the temperature was in the low 40s (Fahrenheit) with ample wind. There is no obvious reason to do this other than if the people in question simply enjoy playing the sport; the enjoyment would then indicate some level of proficiency with the skills of the game. With the exception of perhaps golf and bowling, it is frustrating, if not infuriating, to consistently play a sport at which a person is awful (I count myself as an exception to this rule, being that I have an often unhealthy obsession with the game, but, I must say, that I, on principle, do not play basketball). Furthermore, football is perhaps the most popular sport in Germany, as it is in most of western Europe; unlike us in the US, it is very common for most all children to continue playing the game seriously beyond the age of 7, and it is generally a hobby for most athletically inclined young men. This is a stereotype, I realize, but it fits for the sort of guy who goes to a public park to play when the weather feels, let’s say, just a BIT brisk. This stereotype also fits for all the other countries represented with the exception of my own. But, seriously, this study doesn’t exactly concern me personally, but I feel like I play well enough in defense to fit. Finally, there is no reason to believe that either team was chosen from any more a talented field than the other; both appeared quite random. Actually, I can say with certainty that my team was incredibly random, but our opposition portrayed the part well enough.
Given this situation, you have two teams that should stack up fairly even on one another. They had their obvious choice for an MVP award; we had our own. They had their better players, as we did, and then they had their…less talented members, just as we did, too. At very least, this should have been an even match, if not a bit in their favor given their superior communicative abilities, but we quickly took dominance and were soon bunging in the goals. Why might this be, being that it is so counter-intuitive? The answer, friends, lies in diversity. Wait, don’t stop reading yet, this isn’t just another one of those namby-pamby “let’s all bring the world together for peace” rants; this is my attempt at a serious psychological study, and I’m not finished yet. I’m not talking about diversity just for diversity’s sake; I’m talking about all the other goodies that such a diversity entails.
First, being that we all knew our language skills to be somewhat limited with one another, all our on field communication was very basic and easy to understand; we were also a little unfamiliar with the tendencies of one another. While the Germans were confident in their ability to use nonverbal communication, we were constantly using short and basic commands to help one another (“Back!”; “Behind!”; “Look left/right!”; “Here!’; etc.). Also due to the fact that we were unfamiliar with the playing styles of one another, we mostly avoided extended possessions of the ball. As a result, the ball was all over the field, each member of the team more than willing to dump it off in the face of danger. Finally, we all brought our different playing styles to the pitch, each, oddly enough, somewhat resembled the general playing styles of our homelands. I can’t really speak for how the typical Danish or Finnish player plays, but the rest of our nationalities were well represented. The Argentine dribbled with finesse, preferring to take a few touches, even when perhaps a bit unnecessary, before passing rather than play straight one-touch footie. The Brazilian preferred to move forward rather than adequately cover the pitch and tended to get creative, even when his stunts seemed rather impossible. He backed it up well, though, being successful most of the time. The Frenchman was the most vocal player on the field, and, although he was a good defender, he enjoyed more than anything, it seemed, to rove forward into the midfield and play aggressive one-touch football. Me? Well, as is the stereotypical American way, I find that I am better at sweeping up in the back and playing aggressive in defense. With these guys being generally bigger than me, I was unafraid to throw my body between the attacker and the ball, and this was fairly effective. I committed two of the four called fouls in the back, not that I’m proud of this, but I just find it tremendously stereotypical, and, therefore, funny. The two Scandinavians displayed skilled footwork in attack, but, again, I’m really unfamiliar with typical play from either of those countries.
The Germans, all together, played typical German football; they were skilled in attack, but, with no defensive base, the team was fairly impotent. They were too confident in their ability to dribble through us; they were hesitant to pass when a potential dribbling opportunity showed itself to them, and, sometimes, they attempted to play the long ball when their skill levels, like our own, really would not permit this. Nobody on that field was making a decent trap of a 35 or 40 yard pass. Just ain’t happenin’.
Finally, the point of all this is that the most effective team, all other things being equal, is the most diverse one. This is easy to see amongst the world’s top club teams (Liverpool fields just two Englishmen in its starting XI; the rest of the still remaining Champions’ League squads, possibly with the exception of Man United, whose success is another story entirely, field 6 or fewer domestic players in their starting XIs), although there are also a lot of other factors affecting this. It was certainly observed today. And being that the best team is the diverse one, there is one final conclusion to make from this little story, which is the one that makes me the happiest: The World, despite all her troubles and strife, can still work somewhere efficiently when we simply come to play football together.