FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa: Top five tactical mistakes at the World Cup so far
The world cup so far has been marred with tactical blunders by top level managers. Managers’ such as Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi have failed to live up to their reputations and their teams have suffered as a result. Most of the tactical blunders mentioned here have led to a team getting eliminated.
The first tactical blunder on our list is from the Chile vs. Brazil round of sixteen tie. Entertaining as it was to watch, Chile was eliminated at the end after losing 3-0 to the five time world champions. Chile approached the match in their typical gung ho fashion with a formation of 3-3-1-3 and pressed the ball high up the field. This worked into Brazil’s hands. For the first 20 minutes of the match, Chile were successful in their strategy, they forced Brazil into quick clearances and long hit balls towards Luis Fabiano.
However, once Brazil picked up the pace and got a hold of the ball, their 4-2-3-1 formation flourished. With Robinho drifting in from the wide left position to a shadow striker’s role, Chile’s back three had to deal with a 2v3 situation. Kaka showed us once again what a good footballer he is by realizing this numerical imbalance and moving to a more offensive role. This way Brazil had 3v3 in attack and Robinho, Luis Fabiano and Kaka passed their way around the Chilean defense.
The second tactical blunder has to be by U.S.A when they were playing against Ghana in their round of sixteen match. U.S.A lined up as 4-2-2-2. This meant that the midfield two of Clint Dempsey and Landon Donavan were playing up-field almost in attacking midfield roles while Clark and Bradley had to deal with Ghana’s 4-5-1. This meant that Ghana over powered their way into the game through sheer numerical advantage as none of the U.S offensive midfielders were falling back. A 5v2 situation in the middle of midfield basically killed the game for U.S.A.
The third blunder was the mistake which eventually led to Italy’s elimination from the competition. After drawing their game against New Zealand, they failed to win against Slovakia which led to their eradication from the tournament. Italy lined up as a rigid 4-4-2 against Slovakia in their group matchup. Lippi played De Rossi and Montolivo in central midfield with Pepe and Marchisio on the wings, and Iaquinta and Gilardinho upfront. New Zealand played as a 3-4-3. Italy’s lack of movement from midfield meant that New Zealand defended comfortably against the Italians at the back with a 3v2 situation. This situation was ideal for New Zealand; they defended well against Gilardinho and Iaquinta, the kiwi wing backs picked up Italian wingers in Pepe and Marchisio. Their three strikers upfront pressed up the field to limit offensive runs by Italian full backs Criscito and Zambrotta.
The France vs. Mexico game saw one of the 2006 finalists suffer a humiliating defeat, although not everything in football can be explained by tactics, clearly the French team had a lot of in-house problems going into this game. French lined up as 4-2-3-1 and Mexico with a flexible 3-4-3.
French manager fielded Ribery in central midfield which was his first big mistake of the match. It is a well known fact that if you want your best player on the field to perform to the best of his abilities, he should be fielded in his best position; however Domenech didn’t do this and paid the price. Ribery was hardly prominent throughout the game and failed to make an impact after being deployed out of position. The French also failed to realize that the Mexican team was bursting with pace. Any proper football manager should know that in such a situation, your team’s defensive line should be deep rather than high up the field.
French defensive line was high up the field which allowed Mexican strikers to make runs in behind and with their pace they were always going to be winners against Gallas and Abidal who at times exhibited some atrocious defending. In the end France lost 2 goals to nil.
The last tactical blunder but by far the most surprising one was Fabio Capello’s tactical immaturity in England’s match against Germany. Capello played a 4-4-2 against the German 4-2-3-1. His players were firstly outnumbered in midfield which led to counter attacks and loss of possession on countless occasions throughout the match. Secondly, Capello played his best players out of position just like Domenech did with Ribery. Wayne Rooney was playing as a shadow striker, Gerrard as a left winger and Lampard as a deep lying playmaker.
The game turned out to be a disaster for the English as they lost 4-1 in the end. This loss also resulted in their elimination from the competition.
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