David Beckham, English football icon, stuck on 99 caps. Fabio Capello, the Italian disciplinarian, no lover of sentiment. A series of relatively meaningless friendly games against teams who are better than us – or at least they’ll be working this June.
That was the scenario recently as the media got itself all in a tizzy over Becks and his quest for the all-important 100th cap. Of course we all know now that Fabio didn’t play ball, so with the next friendly against the French on the horizon, we’re set for a re-run of the media frenzy. Will it get as out of hand again, eg every Premiership manager’s weekly press conference being dominated by questions about Becks’ quest, followed by Ceefax leading on Harry Redknapp’s oh-so-insightful thoughts on the matter…
All this got me thinking. What is so important about “100 caps”? Why do we need this ‘milestone’ figure by which to judge a player’s success / standing in the game? Zidane, Cruyff, Stoichkov et al – all fantastic players, national icons to a man, also revered by fans around the globe. Have you got any idea how many caps they’ve got? No, me neither. So I’m going to look it up…
…right, I’m back (thank goodness for Google). It’s a whopping 108 for the man like Zizou…a respectable 84 for “the Maradona of the Balkans”…and a piffling 48 for the original Total Footballer. Well that’s piffling if your judgment is based on number of caps won. However, Cruyff would surely feature in any list of all time greats, and in the era post-Pele and pre-Maradona was undoubtedly the world’s best footballer. The impact he made in those 48 appearances (including 33 goals though he was never an out and out striker) was phenomenal. Quality over quantity.
So, that’s proof enough for me that the 100 caps issue isn’t really…well, an issue. And of course there are so many contributory factors that can skew the figures. Did your nation routinely fail to qualify for big finals (Ryan Giggs, 64 caps)? Did you choose to retire early from internationals (Paul Scholes, 66 caps, and of course Cruyff)? Did you play in an era less awash with friendlies? Was Graham Taylor manager at the time?
In fact, let’s be done with this whole notion of judging anything by the number 100. Is a cricketer who gets 20 Test Match centuries better than one who reaches the 90s 25 times? Not only would I suggest that no, he isn’t…but I’d also venture to suggest that the bloke who constantly got out in the 90s only did so because of nerves brought on by approaching the mythical 100 figure, and all it represents…which is what exactly?
So whilst we’re kicking over these stat-ues, let’s confront some more meaningless ones…
The ‘head to head’ analysis. Let’s say Wolves have played Huddersfield 50 times, winning 22 to their opponent’s 16, with 12 draws (randomly made up figures, by the way, before any Terriers fans get on the ’phone). SO BLOODY WHAT? Were the two playing each other this weekend (which of course they’re not, I know they’re currently in different divisions), what relevance would these stats have? None. Tell me about any meetings in, say, the last two years, games in which the squads consisted of, say, 75% of the current playing staff…well I might just raise a quizzical brow.
Team A has never won at Team B’s ground. Yeah, and? Putting aside the more obvious cases of why this might be (eg the team that’s never been out of the bottom two divisions and has lost the only two cup ties they’ve ever played at Old Trafford), again the question ‘so what?’ is begged. I know that my own team, QPR, has never won at the City Ground. This stat may be a bit of a surprise given that the two teams have often been of a similar standing at various points over the years, with Rangers occasionally having the upper hand. But will it bother me (or more to the point, the current playing squad) unduly next time we visit Trentside? Not one jot. Will the Forest faithful turn up expecting a walkover due to the stat in question? I think not.
Stattos have also created all sorts of historical tables that demonstrate…what? That Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal are England’s three most successful clubs? Hmmm, how many of us would’ve got that one wrong in a pub quiz? After this it gets silly, though, as “average positions” are juggled to try to come up with some all time League table. The one I looked at saw both Darwen and Burton Swifts doing pretty well, I bet their fans are delighted.
We all love football as theatre…as Mr Keegan recently opined on his return to SJP, for some of us football is our theatre (not just up north tho’ Kev). Indeed modern football is not only theatre, it’s rock’n’roll too. And whilst theatre and rock’n’roll may both have their stats (longest running West End show, most number one singles etc), they don’t obsess about them, nor do they find endless minutiae to dissect to death to prove nothing in particular.
Pele talked of the Beautiful Game, Ruud Gullitt of sexy football. That’s what we want, that’s what we remember…and that’s what Johan Cruyff excelled at, regardless of his caps tally. As for Becks, for some he is a legend, for others an over-hyped player of limited ability. For most of us our view probably falls somewhere between the two. However, if he ends up on 99, 100, 101 or 125 caps…will our opinions or perceptions of him change, or even those of generations to come? No.
So let’s focus on the stats that have relevance, those that relate to a game played earlier in the season, for instance. The stats developed in recent years to measure both a player’s contribution to a game (number of assists, completed passes etc), and his physical exertions (amount of miles covered during 90 minutes etc) are no doubt of great use to coaching teams, and can provide an interesting insight for knowledge-hungry fans too. And yes, I will concede there are some historical stats that do make for interesting sub-plots to the season, such as Man United’s attempts to eclipse Liverpool’s haul of both titles and European Cups, and the impact that can have on the psyche of both clubs.
As for Mr. Beckham and the 100th cap, please can we give it a rest. It has about as much relevance as the Wolves vs Huddersfield historical head to head record – and no, I’m not going to look that one up.
