Soccer/Football

sounds maybe right. Do you remember the goal Argentina scored in.. Was it WC06 or 10, where they had something like 24 touches before they scored? That was described as one of the greatest ever.

I guess keeping the ball and outplaying your opponent in a flowing team move is beautiful, while winning a hard header is not.
However, power players such as Roy Keane are often extremely popular amongst hard core fans, whereas maybe more artsy players are popular with fans in general? I am not sure, but there could be something there.

With regards to Brazil, you have to remember that even in the greatest brazil teams there was usually a backbone of a ferocious midfielder. Dunga was one such player, the guy that allows the others to shine and carries the team.

I have read Brilliant Orange. its an interesting book, although i feel maybe he is pushing it when he claims that the Dutch are naturally good on small surfaces because Holland is a small, densly populated country. This does not explain why they have successful players from Suriname for example.

To answer questions one at a time:

1. This is hard. To the layman it probably looks like Barcelona or Brazil when they play well. But when i watch my favourite team, i really love the hard players that give everything in every tackle and inflict pain on the opposing players just as much or maybe even more. I think it could be an emotional thing. Messi and Ronaldinho can be enjoyed by anyone but Roy Keane and Dunga were hated by fans from other teams.

2. I don´t think so. My local team in the Norwegian league have tried to copy that style by visiting Ajax several times and study how they develop players and how they organize their teams. Of course, my team would not be able to outplay Barcelona, but when if your guys have technical skills and "team gel" superior to the opposition i think it can be done regardless. But you probably need a superior team in relation to your opposition.
Youth can probably play it. In Norway a lot of kids now grow up playing soccer on a tiny surface in something we call a "ball bin" which is a small fenced in area with astroturf and a goal on each end. Here they learn dribbling and small surface orientation etc, and it is showing in younger players coming through the ranks. However it probably takes a lot of practice to put it into a system on a larger pitch.

3. Good question, im not a coach But i have noticed that my team practices a LOT in playing triangles. Both with one guy chasing the ball in the middle, and a moving triangle outplaying a set of defenders. If you look at Argentina, Barca etc you will see that a lot of their basic passing play is triangular. And they always keep oriented so that they do not have to pause and look up when they recieve the ball, they play it on immediately because they have learned where the other players will be. This has a lot to do with natural instict i bet, i dont think anyone can do it.

4. I think so. I dont think gaming and facebook and other things modernity brings with it is bad, or at least not a disturbing factor. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is apparently gaming crazy for example. In fact, games are so realistic today they might actually learn a few things by playing in terms of tactics etc. Remember that race car drivers actually practice learning tracks using video games these days.

5. Hmm. Here im at a loss I think its mostly important that they have fun. If kids feel like they dont have fun, they wont play anyway.

6. No! This is stereotyping that sometimes annoy me, just as much as the idea that poverty breeds good football players becuase "rich kids are lazy".
Remember that Uruguay has had some of the most violent teams in World Cup History. Whereas in Europe if you look not only at Holland, but to the Balkans or example you find a football culture where players are natural ball players. Why that is i don´t know, perhaps it has something to do with the way kids play. But it is not a latino thing.