{"id":11835,"date":"2017-12-26T18:46:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T23:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonsoccer.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=11835"},"modified":"2017-12-28T01:48:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-28T06:48:00","slug":"farewell-andrea-pirlo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2017\/12\/26\/farewell-andrea-pirlo\/","title":{"rendered":"Let us Now Praise Famous Men: Farewell to Andrea Pirlo"},"content":{"rendered":"

I admit it. As much as I admired the man and his accomplishments, when the rumours began circulating that Il Maestro had been sighted in Manhattan, I was not amused. For what NYCFC needed in that first summer of its discontent \u2013 as it and much of MLS has always needed – was a strong defender. Someone to solidify the back line. And for everything you can praise Andrea Pirlo<\/strong> for, defense was never one of them.<\/p>\n

But of course, he wasn\u2019t really signed to solidify the team. He was signed to draw fans. He was signed to draw fans because Frank Lampard was still in England or injured. Because Mix Diskerud<\/strong> wasn\u2019t panning out. Because David Villa<\/strong>, no matter how hard he worked, couldn\u2019t do it all by himself.<\/p>\n

Let us Now Praise Famous Men: Farewell to Andrea Pirlo<\/h1>\n

And it worked. The fans poured in. The press \u2013 traditional, alternative and whatever-the-hell-it-is-I-do \u2013 were full of commentary, speculation, argument and invective surrounding the man who had won World Cups, Champions Leagues, and Serie A titles. The man The Guardian called the eighth best footballer in the world<\/a> a scant three years earlier. A man who Michael Cox called \u201cthe most important footballer of his generation<\/a>\u201d. A man who has his own vineyard. Who is literally a knight in his native Italy. New York went all in.<\/p>\n

And it worked on the pitch too. Who was with me on that hot July day in the Bronx when Andrea Pirlo subbed on for Mehdi Ballouchy in the 56th<\/sup> minute. Did you notice how everyone backed away? It was like his reputation was some kind of FIFA forcefield around him. All the players on Orlando City stepped back\u00a0as if they were shocked that they were actually on the pitch with him. As if they were worried about what he would do. And players on NYCFC backed off too, actually. You could see it in their faces: \u201cwhat in the name of God am I doing with the ball when this guy<\/em> is on the pitch?\u201d<\/p>\n

Which leads me to this: if you never saw Andrea Pirlo live, you never really<\/em> saw Pirlo. I know, I know, but it\u2019s true. Because you had to see the whole pitch<\/em> \u2013 the pitch beyond the frame of the television \u2013 to see his genius at work. To see him put the ball right on the foot of a player you only saw dimly out of the edge of your peripheral vision. To see him see the whole god-damned stadium, and every player in it, and their direction and their speed and the inclinations and everything. At its best, it was like watching someone play four-dimensional chess.<\/p>\n

And if you never saw Pirlo live, then you never got to see that he never really kicked<\/em> the ball. He just sort of pushed<\/em> it. As if he were in conversation with it, and he was encouraging it, convincing it, advising<\/em> it to move from one very specific place on the pitch to another very specific place on the pitch. It\u2019s not like anything I\u2019ve ever seen anyone do as consistently and effortlessly as he did.<\/p>\n

Yes, there were bumpy patches. NYCFC\u2019s defense that first year was still a challenge and Pirlo \u2013 never known for his defensive skills \u2013 didn\u2019t fix that. And then there came to be an over-reliance on Pirlo to run the offense. Which meant it wasn\u2019t long before other teams realized that every single attack<\/em> was going through the Maestro \u2013 so they just focused on shutting him down, and NYCFC\u2019s first season promise began to fold.<\/p>\n

And then there was this comment<\/a> last year: \u201cIt’s very physical, there’s a lot of running. So there is a lot of physical work and to me, in my mind, too little play.\u201d \u201cToo much running\u201d? That sounded like code for \u201cthey run because they don\u2019t have skill.\u201d \u201cToo little play\u201d? That sounded like a polite way of saying \u201cThey don\u2019t really understand the game.\u201d Put together, it sounded like another old man getting rich off of American enthusiasm for the game while biting the hand that was feeding him.<\/p>\n

But then I thought about it, and you know what?, he was right. Compared to the Serie A, MLS is<\/em> in fact too much running and too little play. It takes its cues more from the English Premier League \u00ad\u2013 and frankly, I could hear Pirlo saying the same thing about THAT league had he spent any time there. In other words, he wasn\u2019t complaining about MLS, he was just explaining that he plays a different kind of soccer \u2013 one predicated less on speed and force and more on precision and patience.<\/p>\n

And when I realized that, I began to realize the real import of his impact. Because you can\u2019t swing a dead cat in MLS without people asking you whether a particular DP was worth it. Was Kaka<\/strong> worth it to Orlando City? Was Thierry Henry<\/strong> worth it to the New York Red Bulls? Who was ultimately a more important DP for the Los Angeles Galaxy \u2013 David Beckham<\/strong> or Robbie Keane<\/strong>? \u00a0And Pirlo would be no different. Especially since he didn\u2019t accumulate the hardware that David Villa has. And the team didn\u2019t win the Cup. And he played so little in 2017.<\/p>\n

But if you look there, then you\u2019re looking in the wrong places.<\/h3>\n

Look for it in the development of Jack Harrison<\/strong>. Look for it in the passing skills of Tommy McNamara<\/strong>. Look for it in the game management of Yangel Herrera<\/strong>. In the field vision of Alexander Ring<\/strong>. In the timing of Jonathan Lewis<\/strong>. Look for it in every young player who trained with Andrea Pirlo, and look for it over the course of the rest of their career. For when you see them doing something that other players aren\u2019t doing, when you see them making an impossible pass, seeing an impossible opening, finding an impossible opportunity \u2013 you will be seeing the impact of Andrea Pirlo.<\/p>\n

And one more thing. When you see these young players engaging with the press, the public, and the pressure of this world sport not as selfish, greedy, ignorant children but as intelligent, articulate and considerate gentlemen of honour, you will also see the impact of Andrea Pirlo.<\/p>\n

And that may be the most important legacy to leave of all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo:<\/p>\n

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – April 12: Andrea Pirlo #21 of New York City FC in action during the New York City FC Vs San Jose Earthquakes regular season MLS game at Yankee Stadium on April 1, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Tim Clayton\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I admit it. As much as I admired the man and his accomplishments, when the rumours began circulating that Il Maestro had been sighted in Manhattan, I was not amused. For what NYCFC needed in that first summer of its discontent \u2013 as it and much of MLS has always needed – was a strong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":991,"featured_media":7069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[119,4],"tags":[852,322,596,56,176,276,486,328,55,1191,352,910],"class_list":["post-11835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mls","category-nycfc","tag-alexander-ring","tag-andrea-pirlo","tag-david-beckham","tag-david-villa","tag-frank-lampard","tag-jack-harrison","tag-kaka","tag-mix-diskerud","tag-robbie-keane","tag-thierry-henry","tag-tommy-macnamara","tag-yangel-herrera"],"modified_by":"Matt Pollard","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/991"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}