The Brilliance of Silva – Chronos of football

Greek legend has it Chronos, a God in a serpentine shape with three heads—those of a man, a bull and a lion, that could warp time. Time exists and flows within space, by manipulating time, Chronos would basically distort it. With the world getting more educated and Stephen Hawking’s big bang theory gaining world wide respect, Chronos, Thor, Zeus became part of the mythological world which every now and then emerges in a Hollywood popcorn flick that I regret watching or a classic RTS game, which I still miss playing – Age of Mythology- I’m looking at you.

David Silva seems plucked right out of those archive, a footballer with almost mythical abilities which should not fit in modern football. Lacking the strength, pace and acceleration to function and playing as a Trequartista is a homage to football of the yester years. Playing between the gaps with no fixed position in a league that is brutal, fast and is at times, no holds barred, standing at 5 feet and 6 inches and weighing at 67 kg, the little Spaniard keeps weaving his magic and still remains untouched or not even remotely bullied. While magic is a sleight of hands, something where an audience is fooled via years of practice; calling Silva a magician is an understatement, what he does with the ball at his feet is closer to summoning the Greek myths.

Elusive and nimble footed like the winged Hermes, Silva’s role is similar to that of the greek deity – messengers taking immense pleasure in delivering the parcel/ball to someone else and letting them finish it off. In a recent football show veteran Premier League midfielder, George Boateng, said he would hate playing against Silva because it is so difficult to keep track of him and his size makes it easy for him to disappear. A quick look at his heat map in the premier league clash of the titans ( or as Mourinho put it Champion vs the Former Champions) – Manchester City vs Chelsea – will dislay his ability to wear the invisibility cloak and be everywhere – omnipresent, a bit godly perhaps?

Mere mortals, Matic, Fabregas and Ramires never stood a chance. If we rewind a week earlier against West Brom you would see a familiar story, the Spaniard was everywhere just delivering the ball and disappearing.

But his ability to be Hermes like is not the most impressive, it’s his ability to summon Chronos so as to speak is what sets him apart. When the ball touches the leather of his boot, Silva becomes the master of time and space. Despite not being the quickest, he seems two steps ahead of everyone else and it seems like he has all the time in the world. With a mere drop of the shoulder and flick of the boot, Chronos of football warps time to change the continuum of space-time and create gaps that are only evident to him. The control and power he exudes the second the synthetic ball touches his foot is amazing, his teammates are less tense and the crowd goes silent. They all wait for a swing of boot to see magic, godly powers at work, as the lil one spots spaces and gaps invisible to those around him.

While Aguero gets all the plaudits at City for scoring goals and being the perfect modern footballer – fast, strong and lethal- for me Silva is what empowers him, without Silva he would be nothing. A bit like what Samson’s hair was to him.

As modern football shuns artists and replaces them with warriors, finesse and skill have been relegated to the archives – every now and then they are pulled out to see how Cruyff could turn, how Maradona could weave past players on will and not stick to a system or how a slow Zidane could run circles around everyone. Silva is still hanging on to this mythological world, as the Chronos of football shows in the video that time is but a mere mortal trait not applicable on him solving a Rubik’s cube in 16 seconds ( or maybe a lot more and then reversing time to fool us).