Football (soccer) games are jazz music. The structure of each team’s play provides the background for the constant improvisation of the players. The jazz musician looks for an opening in the composition, where he will be able to toy with the arrangement, where he can poke holes in the structure, where he can play faster than the established beat or play notes that don’t belong in the composition (or sometimes don’t even belong in the structure of the musical key). He breaks the rules, because breaking the rules is fun, different, uncertain, and emotionally expressive.
Football players are given a position and a task, and spend most of the game adhering to its principles. They touch the ball once or twice and pass it on to another player, who then proceeds to do the same. The team patiently waits for the opportunity to arise when a great player will receive the ball and suddenly start his solo. As he solos he leaves his position, holds the ball for longer than dictated by his task, and just has fun zooming past players and placing the ball behind the net. The team stands behind him, comping along as the player improvises.
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