Brazilian soccer is all about flair and improvisation, but it looks yearningly at the defensive organization of the Italians. Italian soccer is about cynicism and tactical intelligence, but it admires and fears the physical courage of the English. English soccer is about tenacity and energy, but it believes it ought to mimic the technique of the Brazilians. The history of tactics, it seems, is the history of two interlinked tensions: aesthetics versus results on the one side and technique versus physique on the other.
