Lionel Messi, 2014 World Cup: The world’s best player has figured out how to win matches by moving less than everyone else.

 

"If Messi on the ball is the greatest spectacle in the game, Messi off the ball is one of the most mysterious. It's fascinating to watch him and try to see the game through his eyes.

The first thing that strikes you is that, most of the time, he appears to be doing very little indeed. He loiters at an angle to the play. He drifts disinterestedly in the spaces between defenders. The only signs of alertness are those sharp, hawkish swivels of the head, as he stores a mental image of what's over his shoulder. Then he darts toward empty space—the logic of his movement only becoming apparent two passes later, when the ball arrives at his feet. The wonder is that somehow he exerts this gravitational pull on the play while seldom even breaking into a trot."

read analysis by Ken Early> 

Lionel Messi, 2014 World Cup: The world’s best player has figured out how to win matches by moving less than everyone else.