Not only that, he performed each aspect of his duties to the degree that nobody had seen before. He refined and modernized the role to offer his team another avenue of assault. Once Der Kaiser had won the ball in his sweeper position, he would join the attack through marauding dribbles or clever one-two passes to carve open the opposition. They would win the ball and then either bring it into the defensive midfield position or simply shift it straight away from very deep to a player deemed more creative to threaten the opponent. Rare exceptions aside, that’s usually as far as the ‘Libero’ progressed. The Athletic created a short yet informative video on the history of the role’s use and the associated progress we have seen over time. A ‘Libero’ more often than not performed their duties zonally, sniffing out danger depending on where the threat was coming from. However, a ‘Libero’ was granted much more freedom (in Italian, ‘libero’ means ‘free’). Traditionally, defenses had been coached as a unit, with a strong emphasis on organization to nullify attacks through assigning defenders a player each to focus on – essentially, man-marking. The ‘Libero,’ as the role has been referred to, stems from the popular tactical use in Italy, and further afield, of a player being positioned behind the defensive line to sense any danger which penetrates the defense and neutralizes those threats (or, if you like, sweeps). His domineering displays earned Franz the nickname Der Kaiser (translated to The Emperor), a title befitting such a commanding operator.įormer teammate Felix Magath describes Beckenbauer’s omniscience and omnipresence on the soccer field and how the sweeper’s in-game knowledge was head and shoulders above anybody else’s, making him one of a kind. Though there were sweepers before him, nobody conducted their business with such elegance, relentlessness, and dynamic manner of advancing forward with the ball from deep. Only a handful of soccer players throughout history can boast of their fame for revolutionizing a position, but Beckenbauer was a trailblazer. Was ist die Bundesliga? Bundesliga-Basics für DeutschlernerĬountless team and individual awards spanning a 19-year playing career posit Der Kaiser as one of the finest players there has ever been and a pioneer of the modern sweeper as we know it.
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