This is kind of a newbie question, but I'll ask it anyway. This arises from my reading of a post regarding whether Beckham ought to stay on as England's captain. The discussion seemed to be focused on a lot of pros and cons that apparently go into the calculus for determining who should be captain - leadership, credibility, scoring, on-field performance, etc. Having never played the game competitively, I am pretty ignorant regarding what the captain does and what it takes to be one. I am familiar with what a captain does in American football and basketball, but what does a captain do in soccer, and what makes a good captain?
A great captain is like a coach inside the field. He commands the confidence of his teammates and he wills the team to win. He tells you to move to the left and you move to the left. He tells you to cover a player and you cover the player. You do what he says, because you know he is 'the man' on the team. And he also inspires you. For example, lets say you are in a tough game on the road, and the other team just scored a goal to go ahead. The crowd is going wild and the momentum is all on their side. A great captain will pick up the ball, gather his teammates around him, and tell them, 'We are not going to lose this ********ing game!' And somehow you believe him and suddenly all the adversity is gone, and you believe that you can win. Is David Beckham that kind of a leader for England?
Right. Just like Dunga for Brazil. The problem is that we don't have a voice on the field right now. It's a major issue and we have to deal with it. By the way, does Argentina have one?
I don't think so. The last great captain we had was Ruggeri, and before that Passarella. (Maradona in a way was a good captain because players were in awe of his game, but not in the traditional sense. I think Ruggeri took on the role even when Maradona had the official title.) Simeone was a good captain, not a great one. At the present time, I don't know. One of the youngsters will have to step up.
Well, yeah, he is a good defender and he certainly provides veteran leadership. But I don't think of him as an oustanding captain, in the sense that he will really motivate and rally players around him to give their all. A guy like Passarella or Ruggeri were for Argentina, or like Chilavert was for Paraguay. I think that is one think that Argentina was missing during the Bielsa years, and that is perhaps why they couldn't translate their talent into more success. I think it was you who was discussing Bobby Moore in another thread. I think he is also a historical example of a great captain for England, as was Beckembauer for Germany. I think if we go back we will find that most WC champions had a great captain who led them to victory.
Going back to England's need for a great captain, I trully believe this. What England is missing is a player like Roy Keane. If Roy Keane was English, he would be the man and England would automatically be one of the favorites to win the World Cup. They might have won the last one with him, because they had enough young good players which could have rallied around a great leader. Not just that, but we'd probably be talking about him as the greatest player of this generation. Sure, Keane is a hothead and a big a-hole, and he might have done something stupid. but that was true of other great captains. Passarella was (is) a big a-hole, but he was a great captain. Often (thought not necesarily always), being a bad guy it is an unfortunate but logical side effect of being a fiery inspiratinal leader. It comes with the territory. Well, I guess it's too bad for England that he is not English.
except hes nowhere near as good as he used to be, and not good enough right now to displace gerrard or lampard, as for a contemporary answer to this question:
Well, how old is he now, over 35? I am talking about him at his prime, of course, although I think he still has some game left. And I said he could help England because he is from the Islands, but it could apply to any top European team. I think (at his prime) he had what it takes to lead a top team to a WC title and he could have been remembered as a great captain, just as he was for Manchester United. But of course, what he did for Ireland before the last WC was stupid, and it is not the only stupid thing he did in his career, so who knows?
From what I can understand of the incident he had some very valid points (apparantly there was no practice pitch at the hotel they were staying at amongst other things). Keane was used to everything being perfect in preparation for Man utd games that the amateurish way the Irish FA had prepared for the World Cup he thought he had every right (as captain) to state his case, unfortunately the mutual hatred between him and McCarthy led to the situation developing as it did.
It was unfortunate, because Ireland was an intriguing team and who knows how far they might have gone with a strong captain like Keane. I was looking forward to watching them play, and I was dissapointed that he bailed out. Teams led by a strong personality can never be counted out. I thought Ireland could be like Paraguay in 98, when Chilavert was at his best, and they came out of a tough group and came close to taking out eventual champion France in the second round.
Well a good strong arse helps - let me explain! When I was at Uni in my first year, qualification for the Hall of Residence team, meant, you had to pass an initiation ceremony - this included biting the captain's arse until it bled, followed by a booze cruise, which opened with 'shotgunning' 4 cans of Colt 45 (disgusting), then drinking sherry until you were sick - well it beats soggy biscuit anyway
Leadership, Confidence, Encouragement, and Respect fromt teammates is what makes a good captain. If you don't have those qualities you should not captain a team.