The bottom line is that Mike Tomlin loves to throw and he loves to take shots down the field; Roethlisberger is a deep ball master.
Many European sides still appear to have a better level of technical ability, which means they are more at ease on the ball, can master it more adeptly in tight situations without squandering possession and can switch the pace of their play at will.
The younger men in the cast -- including Michael Rosenbaum, as Johnny's younger brother, Danny, a would-be hustler, and Rick Schroeder as a rival nine-ball master -- know better than to try to compete with the veterans, who attack their meagerly conceived roles with admirable intensity.
That was easier said than done against a team who boasted an array of stars, most notably Brazilian dead-ball master Juninho.
Karl Robinson, almost five years in a job he began at 29, is an admirer of the Dutch ethos that "the master of the ball becomes master of the game" and, perhaps picking up on the club's proximity to Bletchley, is playing the imitation game and finding local Englishmen to do it.
My focus is on technique and mastering the ball.
"It was all about mastering the ball.
"We have got to be very selfish and we have to focus on elite English footballers at very young ages - getting their education and schooling but also getting hour after hour of the right things, with the first priority mastering the ball.
What is certain is that Spain's passing style, the revelation that the ball can be mastered in this way, does live on, and that there will not be a winner in Brazil who hasn't reacted in some way to the style in which Spain have played football.
Acrobats, for instance, begin as mime artists, mastering basic balance ball tricks and flips before moving onto fully customised stadium shows.
