Catenaccio rules!

Catenaccio or ‘the door bolt’ system of football is the best style of football. Period.

The art of catenaccio, made famous by Helenio Herrera, who was at the helm of Inter Milan in the 1960s, calls for colossal amounts of discipline and patience. The style focuses on putting out a highly organized defensive system to thwart the opponent. After several years of criticism, Catenaccio has earned its much deserved reputation in Europe, with Inter Milan beating European powerhouses Chelsea, Barcelona and Bayern Munich to win the UCL. The art has been under severe criticism by many and I don’t understand why. Many liken it to ‘anti-football’. I think this kind of criticism is baseless and comes from people who are not open minded to change.

Opposites exist everywhere in nature; matter and antimatter, light and dark, and total football and catenaccio. It’s important to appreciate this fact. I reckon that the anti-catenaccio camp thinks attack is what drives football; and attacking football is the most entertaining style. True, the kind of football played by Barcelona, Arsenal and The Netherlands is always high on entertainment. For arm-chair football fans with pop corn, watching these teams play is like watching a commercial blockbuster movie. But football is more than entertainment. Imo, it takes a lot of courage and hours of tactical thinking to sit back and defend, spurring your opponent on telling him ‘Come on hit me!’. The lofty levels of discipline and patience required to concentrate on stopping your opponent is the hardest thing in football. And in that aspect, Catenaccio wins hands down. Like Rocky Balboa says, “It’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”

It’s sad to see defenders like Lucio, Samuel, Zanetti, Cannavaro, Vidic and many others are not spoken about in the same breath as players like Messi, Ronaldo and Robben. What irked me the most recently was when Diego Maradona left out Cambiasso and Zanetti out of the Argentina WC squad, perhaps in fav0ur of sending out an attacking line-up, despite their pivotal contributions in Inter’s glorious campaign. Catenaccio is an acquired taste for football fans. But once you realise how hard it is, every other style looks meek.

Catenaccio forever!