Life in the Indian Super League has come full circle for Brazilian manager Zico and his Italian counterpart Marco Materazzi. As the Fatorda Stadium in Goa prepares to host the grand finale between FC Goa and Chennaiyin FC, the venue also provides a perfect setting for the climax to ISL's finest managerial rivalry.
It was at Fatorda, in the league's inaugural season, where the two clubs made their ISL debuts under the guidance of the two managers. On that night 15 months ago, Chennai's feisty 2-1 win marked the beginning of a series of fascinating cat-and-mouse contests played across two seasons.
Now, with Zico appearing unlikely to return next year and Materazzi non-committal over his future, a return to the scene of their first meeting will offer us one final glimpse of "Zico versus Marco".
This Brazil versus Italy rivalry, the head-to-head of which stands at two apiece, lends the ISL final a glorious charm. Over the course of football history, the two nations have typically been placed at the opposite ends of the sport's philosophical spectrum. Brazil, guided historically by the attacking principles of Joga Bonito ("play beautifully"), has served as the perfect antithesis of Catenaccio ("door-bolt"), a defensive style of play synonymous with Italian football.
Zico, in fact, was an integral part of Brazil's majestic, all-attacking 1982 World Cup team that suffered a shock exit at the hands of a destructive yet well-organized Italian side. The match is seen today as a watershed moment for the game; one which had a profoundly negative effect on the carefree style of Brazilian football. Even 30 years down the line, Football Italia quoted Zico moaning about how football became more about "breaking up the opposition's move, and based on fouling the opposition" in the aftermath of Italy's famous win.
Contrasting styles
Heading into the ISL, the "White Pele" remained true to his Brazilian roots and promoted a play-to-entertain brand of football. In Materazzi, however, Zico found an Italian manager who was unafraid of using the dark arts.
This was evident from their first meeting itself, when Materazzi set his visiting team out to disrupt Goa's rhythm through rough tackling and excessive fouling – with Goa's marquee midfield player Robert Pires the subject of special attention. He played with five defenders in addition to a defensive midfielder.
Goa lost 2-1, a stunning Elano free kick settling matters, leaving Zico to fume at Chennai's gamesmanship. "It seems they liked faking injuries and wasting time," said the Brazilian manager. "It was clear their team didn't want to play after taking the lead." Materazzi, though, was unconcerned. "Pires should know that it's football," he replied unapologetically.
In the return leg two months later, tempers flared again but Goa avenged their home defeat by beating Materazzi's men 3-1. Although Chennai had already qualified for the final and were also struggling with injuries, it was their first defeat on home soil and one that also confirmed the opposition's place in the final four.
Zico outclassed
In season two, the battle of philosophies only got tastier. When an out-of-form Chennai visited high-flying Goa in October, Materazzi not only defied the form book but completely outclassed his Brazilian counterpart through intelligent tactics.
Noticing Goa's predictable approach of playing through its Indian wingers Romeo Fernandes and Mandar Rao Desai, which left them open and vulnerable through the centre, Materazzi tweaked his own system to play a flat midfield four. In the season's first two matches, he had deployed a diamond midfield that would allow opponents space on the flanks but keep things tight in the middle.
The Italian also set out to play exclusively on the counter-attack. By inviting Goa forward, he wanted to exploit the lack of pace in the opposition's centre-back pairing, Lucio and Gregory Arnolin, through the speed of forward John Stiven Mendoza and the quick-thinking ability of playmaker Elano.
It was a ploy that worked to perfection. The Mendoza-Elano duo powered Chennai to a 4-0 win in what turned out to be one of the most one-sided matches in ISL history. Zico acknowledged the defeat as his worst in 16 years of coaching.
It proved to be a landmark loss for Zico; one which changed the way the Brazilian manager approached matches. The romanticist in him gave way to a pragmatist. His first reaction to the loss was to immediately switch to a compact diamond midfield, which meant ditching the very wingers that gave the team a flamboyant identity. His second was to play three centre-backs, thus ensuring adequate cover for Lucio and Arnolin at all times.
In 13 matches since the Chennai defeat, Zico has started Romeo and Mandar together only thrice. And never as out-and-out wingers. With the Brazilian preferring to keep things solid at the back, both players have only been reintroduced into the line-up as wingbacks in a 3-5-2 formation -- a firm departure from the manager's trademark 4-2-3-1 setup.
Change of tactics
While an ill-tempered return leg in Chennai saw Zico avenge the defeat in Goa, his team did so in utterly un-Zico-like fashion: a smash-and-grab, in football parlance, achieved via two second-half penalties. With the 0-4 reversal fresh in his mind, the Brazilian deployed five defenders on the day (along with a defensive midfielder) to nullify the threat of Elano and Mendoza. "We had to be humble enough to recognize [the opposition's] strength and make amends," he explained.
An incredible 36 fouls (shared equally) marred the occasion including a horrific, potentially leg-breaking challenge on Leonardo Moura, Goa's player of the season, by the hotheaded Harmanjot Khabra.
Ahead of the final on Sunday, you can be assured that neither of the two managers would've forgotten the short but fascinating history of this fixture. All four meetings between the two sides have resulted in away wins making Goa's home advantage in the final a rather unsafe one.
While FC Goa and Chennaiyin FC may have been the two best attacking sides this season, the artistic side of football often goes for a toss when they face each other. Instead, a tactical battle between two excellent managers appears at the forefront, which makes the contest no less intriguing.
Akarsh Sharma is a Delhi-based writer who occasionally tweets here.
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It was at Fatorda, in the league's inaugural season, where the two clubs made their ISL debuts under the guidance of the two managers. On that night 15 months ago, Chennai's feisty 2-1 win marked the beginning of a series of fascinating cat-and-mouse contests played across two seasons.
Now, with Zico appearing unlikely to return next year and Materazzi non-committal over his future, a return to the scene of their first meeting will offer us one final glimpse of "Zico versus Marco".
This Brazil versus Italy rivalry, the head-to-head of which stands at two apiece, lends the ISL final a glorious charm. Over the course of football history, the two nations have typically been placed at the opposite ends of the sport's philosophical spectrum. Brazil, guided historically by the attacking principles of Joga Bonito ("play beautifully"), has served as the perfect antithesis of Catenaccio ("door-bolt"), a defensive style of play synonymous with Italian football.
Zico, in fact, was an integral part of Brazil's majestic, all-attacking 1982 World Cup team that suffered a shock exit at the hands of a destructive yet well-organized Italian side. The match is seen today as a watershed moment for the game; one which had a profoundly negative effect on the carefree style of Brazilian football. Even 30 years down the line, Football Italia quoted Zico moaning about how football became more about "breaking up the opposition's move, and based on fouling the opposition" in the aftermath of Italy's famous win.
Contrasting styles
Heading into the ISL, the "White Pele" remained true to his Brazilian roots and promoted a play-to-entertain brand of football. In Materazzi, however, Zico found an Italian manager who was unafraid of using the dark arts.
This was evident from their first meeting itself, when Materazzi set his visiting team out to disrupt Goa's rhythm through rough tackling and excessive fouling – with Goa's marquee midfield player Robert Pires the subject of special attention. He played with five defenders in addition to a defensive midfielder.
Goa lost 2-1, a stunning Elano free kick settling matters, leaving Zico to fume at Chennai's gamesmanship. "It seems they liked faking injuries and wasting time," said the Brazilian manager. "It was clear their team didn't want to play after taking the lead." Materazzi, though, was unconcerned. "Pires should know that it's football," he replied unapologetically.
In the return leg two months later, tempers flared again but Goa avenged their home defeat by beating Materazzi's men 3-1. Although Chennai had already qualified for the final and were also struggling with injuries, it was their first defeat on home soil and one that also confirmed the opposition's place in the final four.
Zico outclassed
In season two, the battle of philosophies only got tastier. When an out-of-form Chennai visited high-flying Goa in October, Materazzi not only defied the form book but completely outclassed his Brazilian counterpart through intelligent tactics.
Noticing Goa's predictable approach of playing through its Indian wingers Romeo Fernandes and Mandar Rao Desai, which left them open and vulnerable through the centre, Materazzi tweaked his own system to play a flat midfield four. In the season's first two matches, he had deployed a diamond midfield that would allow opponents space on the flanks but keep things tight in the middle.
The Italian also set out to play exclusively on the counter-attack. By inviting Goa forward, he wanted to exploit the lack of pace in the opposition's centre-back pairing, Lucio and Gregory Arnolin, through the speed of forward John Stiven Mendoza and the quick-thinking ability of playmaker Elano.
It was a ploy that worked to perfection. The Mendoza-Elano duo powered Chennai to a 4-0 win in what turned out to be one of the most one-sided matches in ISL history. Zico acknowledged the defeat as his worst in 16 years of coaching.
It proved to be a landmark loss for Zico; one which changed the way the Brazilian manager approached matches. The romanticist in him gave way to a pragmatist. His first reaction to the loss was to immediately switch to a compact diamond midfield, which meant ditching the very wingers that gave the team a flamboyant identity. His second was to play three centre-backs, thus ensuring adequate cover for Lucio and Arnolin at all times.
In 13 matches since the Chennai defeat, Zico has started Romeo and Mandar together only thrice. And never as out-and-out wingers. With the Brazilian preferring to keep things solid at the back, both players have only been reintroduced into the line-up as wingbacks in a 3-5-2 formation -- a firm departure from the manager's trademark 4-2-3-1 setup.
Change of tactics
While an ill-tempered return leg in Chennai saw Zico avenge the defeat in Goa, his team did so in utterly un-Zico-like fashion: a smash-and-grab, in football parlance, achieved via two second-half penalties. With the 0-4 reversal fresh in his mind, the Brazilian deployed five defenders on the day (along with a defensive midfielder) to nullify the threat of Elano and Mendoza. "We had to be humble enough to recognize [the opposition's] strength and make amends," he explained.
An incredible 36 fouls (shared equally) marred the occasion including a horrific, potentially leg-breaking challenge on Leonardo Moura, Goa's player of the season, by the hotheaded Harmanjot Khabra.
Ahead of the final on Sunday, you can be assured that neither of the two managers would've forgotten the short but fascinating history of this fixture. All four meetings between the two sides have resulted in away wins making Goa's home advantage in the final a rather unsafe one.
While FC Goa and Chennaiyin FC may have been the two best attacking sides this season, the artistic side of football often goes for a toss when they face each other. Instead, a tactical battle between two excellent managers appears at the forefront, which makes the contest no less intriguing.
Akarsh Sharma is a Delhi-based writer who occasionally tweets here.
