Flair play

Who doesn't love a bit of magic on the football field? Swaying hips, sudden turns, unpredictable footwork. Who will bring such creativity to this World Cup?

- Rudraneil Sengupta

Is modern football devoid of beauty, soul, and spirit? Is it shackled by the voluminous variety and depth of data and its analysis?

By obsessive, controlling coaches scanning for patterns? By the limitless commercialisation and professionalisation of the game, where anything with a sniff of ’inefficiency’ has to be snuffed out?

The death of ‘joga bonito’ — play beautifully — has been announced many times over in the past decades, with purists, poets, and pundits all lamenting the passing of a magical time where footballers danced on the pitch instead of just running with the ball, where the great artists — Garrincha, Pele, Maradona — moulded the game to suit their temperament, instead of tempering themselves to fit the game.