AMSTERDAM AND THE LATIN GAME
— Maurice Pefferkorn | 07/06/1928 —

The Olympic football tournament which, from the first days, asserted its Latin character, continues under this sign. This is what constitutes both its charm and its weakness. Its charm, because we witness fiery encounters, full of spontaneity and the unexpected, most of the time played with speed, all things which particularly seduce the French spectator, in fact quite rare here. Its weakness, because it does not have, in this way, an international oriterium value.

We cannot deplore too much the Olympic formula which keeps away from the tournament the teams from Great Britain, Central Europe, even Sweden, whose participation would have provided us with interesting contrasts. Also, whatever the interest of this Olympic event, we cannot regret that it is the last of its kind. The initiative of Fifa, which decided to organize the World Cup in 1930, without distinction of categories, will very probably have the effect of eliminating football from the next Olympic Games, especially since they will take place in Los Angeles and we do not see the possibility of sending many European teams to America.

But let's talk about the present. It may seem tendentious to claim that this tournament is Latin when two of the semi-finalists are South Americans and a third is African. Only Italy should benefit, it seems, from being called a Latin nation. However, Argentines and Uruguayans undoubtedly have Latin origins. If their method is Scottish, they knew how to stamp it with the stamp of their temperament. However perfect the British may be in the game they have created, there is something more in the Americans, or, if you like, something else. They have astonishing dexterity and a love of ball handling that borders on the most subtle art and even goes as far as preciousness. The British teams are perhaps more complete, more orderly, more rapid even in their general operations. They probably have more cohesion and more regularity, more robustness too. But I don't know if the South Americans don't have greater skill and if they don't have a more innate sense of feint.

Among the English and the Scots, we feel that perfection has been achieved through hard work, that a long tradition and recruitment on a unique scale largely contribute to it. On the contrary, when we see the Argentines and Uruguayans operating, we understand that these players have exceptional birth gifts. Their intuition and the ability they have to transform compromised situations into dangerous situations for the adversary is sometimes a miracle. In truth, we see them accomplishing things that the British do not think of. The individual qualities of the players thus stand out more, especially among the Uruguayans who shine through the very striking personality of some of their aces, but also among the Argentines, who however strive for the most complete impersonality.

About Italy, whose game is closely related to ours, I won't say much. But we must emphasize the quality of the Portuguese, who seem to me to be the best Latin team in Europe at the moment and who have surprised many people here. If the Portuguese forwards had been a little more direct, they would certainly have led their team to the final. This team has proven that it knows how to be formidable elsewhere than in Lisbon. They famously asserted themselves here.

As for Egypt, educated in the British school, it is not a Latin nation. However, we can qualify it as a Mediterranean team, which, all things considered, is, in this case, more or less the same thing. In any case, they use speed so much, they have such a knack for mobility and rapid intervention, they contribute so much to proving that speed and science can combine very well in football, that it do not hesitate to rank them among the teams which illustrate the Latin way of playing football. Egypt is now an opponent to consider for everyone.