With the double six into the box

By Sigi Heinrich

Life is a constant process of adaptation, although many things can also be seen as enrichment. Of course, this also applies to language, which constantly produces new creations. Sport is not spared from this either, especially not football, as can be seen so wonderfully these days during the European Championships. The colleagues (I refuse to work with gender stars) at the microphone take us into a new world that we first have to explore. After all, many of us grew up with completely different concepts. The penalty area becomes a “box” A first example: In the past there was simply a penalty area. Sounds kind of dangerous. If the ball is in this area, it actually gets exciting, because then the goal into which this ball is supposed to go is no longer far away and the chance increases as you get closer. So the penalty area is the first target to attack. But now suddenly it no longer exists. I hear the word “box”. How ugly is that? The penalty area is a box! Up until now, I thought there would only be bottles in a box like this, neatly arranged in rows (well, that can actually happen in football), but now the whole square is no longer a penalty area. This changes a lot.

There used to be goalkeepers who were said to have brilliant control of the penalty area. Well, in the past the ball didn't come flying into this area like a buzzing top, but rather straight and was therefore easier to calculate. Now the ball suddenly turns away from the goalkeeper and he stumbles into a crowd of teammates and opponents, sometimes looking quite helpless. As a result, he stays on his line, as if it were magnetically attracting him. Then he jumps and hops and presents great flight numbers. Then he is praised when the ball doesn't end up in the net. Then he is a good goalkeeper, even though he could, and indeed should, have averted the danger earlier.

As a spectator you can and perhaps you even have to understand that, because linguistically it is an imposition to say that this or that goalkeeper is a great “boxing master”. That would be or is basically a continuation of the fact that the penalty area has been downgraded to a somewhat arbitrary box. So now it's all about breaking into the box, which many teams often manage to do. But then there seems to be a panic, as if this box would be a snake pit with poisonous and unpleasant reptiles. That's why you quickly play the ball back in front of the box, and sometimes it was even observed that it suddenly lands in and around your own box in a frenzy of back passes, where your own "box keeper" suddenly has to play football, which isn't something everyone does really succeeds. Then a new attempt begins to reach the opponent's box with the ball, i.e. to get close to the goal. And an incredible amount has happened there too, because the possibilities for achieving this have become diverse, depending on the coaching philosophy. The hour of the super tactician Libero and front stopper have long since been cast out and absorbed into various chains that are spread out on the field. The three-man chain seems to have become incredibly popular, although it doesn't suit every team well. See Germany. There was always someone missing somewhere to make the chain as tight as my door lock. This is then mercilessly analyzed using visual technology during the half-time break, which fortunately is still called that. This is the hour of the super tacticians, the experts, some of whom, when they were still active, often only drove the ball into the opponent's half in an act of helplessness. But the past is dormant, now the number twisters are at work. Franz Beckenbauer said a legendary sentence before the 1990 World Cup final. © AFP / STAFF

The “six” was born and has already received reinforcements from the “double six”. The “double nine” has also been created when there is no nominal center forward available, who normally and traditionally wears the number nine on his back. That was always easy, because everyone knew: This is the man who ultimately has to shoot on goal, the player who is given every freedom, independent of any chain. The trainer's task is becoming increasingly difficult, because of course the fans (including female fans) expect the tactics to be right. It's no longer as easy as it once was for Franz Beckenbauer. “Go out and play football,” he said before the final in Rome and became world champion. Perhaps the “Emperor” was the greatest philosopher of all the coaches who tried Catenaccio (Helenio Herrera from Argentina) or the Swiss bar (Karl Rappan from Austria), with rattling chains and rotating defenders. Beckenbauer basically made us aware of the simplicity of this game and perhaps this game ultimately became so popular because it was easy to understand for a long time. Sometimes less is more. Often even.

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With the double six into the box

The ball has to go into the goal. Especially these days, when the decisions at the European Championships will soon be made. It is no longer as easy as it seems. Our columnist Sigi Heinrich has looked at neologisms that characterize so-called modern football and yet take some getting used to.

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