— Lucien Gamblin | 17/03/1925 —

Since Sunday, we have not failed to compare the Uruguayan game, which we already know well, with the one provided against the French team by the São Paulo eleven.

Certainly, the comparison of methods is simple, easy, and I think that all Parisian soccer players will agree to recognize that, if the Uruguayan players are more brilliant, more artistic, the Brazilian teammates form a more homogeneous, more linked, more in line with the ideas which have always governed the application of team football and collective effort.

We easily admitted on Sunday that Brazil is a serious competitor for Uruguay, but we understood very well that Uruguay is most often the winner.

Olympic champions have the resource of having five or six teammates who, through their personal efforts, can very well, and quite frequently, influence the outcome of a game. While the less artistic Brazilians, except perhaps Friedenreich, practice in a more regular, more flexible, more sustained way.

We cannot compare the results that the opposition of the two methods can give; to do this, we would have to see the two superb South American teams clash.

But the fact remains that Uruguay has the most virtuosos and that its game is more capable than that of Brazil of arousing the enthusiasm of spectators. While the Brazilian eleven must be given as an example to the French teams, and in particular to the national team. Because what the São Paulo players do is within our reach.

We have had and still have players in our team who are equal to those of C.A. Paulistano. And, seeing the Brazilians operate, I have the distinct impression that their overall value was acquired by the application of everyone.

Apart from the centre-forward, there is no big, naturally gifted star in this eleven. The players dribble well, is it impossible for us to achieve this? No, we have Bard, Nicolas, Boyer, Devaquez, who were and still are perfect dribblers.

Sunday's winners get along wonderfully to continue, we too can put together a team that will be able to operate scientifically. But you have to know how to choose the players, and not place between two footballers a player on foot who only has his speed, his ardor going for him, has great difficulty using a ball, and cannot manage to understand the game of his neighbors.

And yet some of our teammates on Sunday showed us that French football could also do much better than the ridiculous role it currently plays.

Furthermore, let us recognize that if the whole is weak, if it is also mediocre, it is because it is heterogeneous and operates like a body without a soul. Inconsistency reigns supreme in our national team even more than among club teams.

A goalkeeper is named captain, who, in addition to the poor position he occupies to be able to lead, has never demonstrated the authority or knowledge necessary to properly carry out the job.

We will remember the little comedy we witnessed when it came to winning a free kick near Brazil's goals, etc...

And what to think, what to say about certain teammates in our eleven who, in this team, play for them personally, being disinterested in what is happening in an area that is not theirs. It is very clever from a selection point of view; these players rarely make big mistakes, but it is detrimental to the overall performance of the entire team. A player must never limit his area of ​​action and must be on board with his teammates, both in success and in defeat.