The cynicism and ridiculous theory of tall players having an advantage in football is wrong and even not close to maybe. Sorry, but no sorry.
Who is a complete player? Explanations I hear do not go down well with me. Mostly, short players are not considered as being complete simply because they offer very little aerial presence.
In Africa, good players have been discarded because they are short. To come out hard, Peter Crouch, for me, heads the ball not because he is a good header but because he is tall and there is a huge difference between the two.
Nature has been good and truthful to the short in the sport of football. Science has stated clearly that agility, swiftness and power are best generated by the short. That is all football is about.
Fast reactions, quick movement, and psychology and out of these three, two will favour Mattew Valbuena. So if these are the three elements in the game and two favour the short, with the latter relative to whom God sees is due. Why would any player want to be tall?
Second, tactical advantage: Full backs, wingers, central midfielders and playmakers (schemers) are predominantly short. In the modern game, with most of the responsibility laid on the full backs to constantly join the attack and defence at the same time, it is very important to be a skitter.
Roberto Carlos and Lizarazu were just eye-pleasing. I will say very little about Philip Lahm. He sometimes makes one or no mistake in 90 minutes. Central midfielders and playmakers are ideal and effective when short. Sneijder, Xavi and Iniesta back this point better.
With the exception of Cristiano Ronaldo, the fliers (wingers) as I call them, are not tall if we should go by six feet (6 feet); Pedro, Robben, Ribery, Lennon, Walcott, Nathan Dyer, and Wright Philips.
And in the striking position, considered to be for the tall can be debated on. Messi, Muller, Pele, Maradona and Romario have over 3,000 goals, so why do you need a tall striker if the short one can do the same job or even better; Ibrahimovic wanting to be the middle man when Messi is flawless.
Lastly, and not acceptable from the tall. The greatest central defender of all time in my opinion (Franz Beckenbauer) is not tall and the only defender to have ever won the world best player award in 2006 (Fabio Cannavaro) is also not tall, so why would any player want to be tall? I ask again.
Low centre of gravity: About 70 per cent of the game is played on the ground and the shorter you are the better. It is easy to count the number of times Ronaldo goes down in a match as compared to Messi.
From the waist to your feet determines how often you go down; that’s how a player like Danny Welbeck, although tall, moves really well because he is short from the waist to the feet.
Consider also players such as Osei Kofi, Mohammed Polo, Stephen Oduro, Romario, Messi, Maradona, Pele, and Ishmael Addo. Having a low centre of gravity does play a role. You will never see a player like Crouch having the same control over the ball as does Carzola or Mata.
That’s not to say it’s impossible for a taller player to have good ball control, but shorter players have the initial advantage.
We saw taller players such as Zidane, Mario Kempes, and Platini dazzle the world with pure talent and now there is Ibra and CR 7, but if GOD should ask me to make one wish as a footballer, I would want nothing than to come as LIONEL ANDRE MESSI KUTUCHINI. I rest my case.
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