Rodney Marsh takes on three New York Cosmos' players - Santiago Formoso, Bob Smith and Terry Garbett, at Tampa Stadium in 1979. Many thanks to Mike Connell for this photo.
1 comment:
Anonymous
said...
Rodney was excelent at creating space for himself, often going sideways or backwards, seemingly giving the most subtle fake that he was going forward, causing defenders to look like they were running away from him. So many times this gave him time and vision to create a great pass or shot. I would sometimes imitate him at a much lower level of amature play. Sometimes coaches or players would yell "What the hell are you doing" or "Go forward, the goals THAT way" I think I looked like (and gave the aura of) just slowly meandering, kind of, sort of a little interested in maybe doing something (like stay away from their defence so I can take a little nap) and then, suddenly came the pass to the forward running through or a well placed shot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz2l-xUQmc0&feature=related (The YouTube video is titled "Best, Marsh and Moore playing for Fullham") The last Marsh goal in the video really demonstrates what I've seen Rodney often do live with the Rowdies. Why valiantly fight forward into defenders with less results when you can do it Marsh's way! It could be argued their defense fell apart allowing Marsh ample space to blast the goal in, though Marsh had some magic I've seen in Tampa Stadium that gets lost on video- the coolest goalkeepers seeming to spontaneously go into spasms just before Marsh takes a sucessful shot, the quickest, most subtle fake, the sleepy, uninterested hesitation and of course tremendous vision, skill, reflexes, and improvision. Some fans in Tampa called Rodney lazy and not caring sometimes- he was just sooo smooth it looked like he wasn't trying hard sometimes. Marsh was fast and quick, he just ran so efficiently he sometimes looked like he wasn't running full speed when it was called for.--- Dan
1 comment:
Rodney was excelent at creating space for himself, often going sideways or backwards, seemingly giving the most subtle fake that he was going forward, causing defenders to look like they were running away from him. So many times this gave him time and vision to create a great pass or shot. I would sometimes imitate him at a much lower level of amature play. Sometimes coaches or players would yell "What the hell are you doing" or "Go forward, the goals THAT way" I think I looked like (and gave the aura of) just slowly meandering, kind of, sort of a little interested in maybe doing something (like stay away from their defence so I can take a little nap) and then, suddenly came the pass to the forward running through or a well placed shot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz2l-xUQmc0&feature=related (The YouTube video is titled "Best, Marsh and Moore playing for Fullham") The last Marsh goal in the video really demonstrates what I've seen Rodney often do live with the Rowdies. Why valiantly fight forward into defenders with less results when you can do it Marsh's way! It could be argued their defense fell apart allowing Marsh ample space to blast the goal in, though Marsh had some magic I've seen in Tampa Stadium that gets lost on video- the coolest goalkeepers seeming to spontaneously go into spasms just before Marsh takes a sucessful shot, the quickest, most subtle fake, the sleepy, uninterested hesitation and of course tremendous vision, skill, reflexes, and improvision. Some fans in Tampa called Rodney lazy and not caring sometimes- he was just sooo smooth it looked like he wasn't trying hard sometimes. Marsh was fast and quick, he just ran so efficiently he sometimes looked like he wasn't running full speed when it was called for.--- Dan
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