FIFA World Cup 2010: Why have defenses been on top?
As the World Cup reaches its climax with just three games left, out of which one is going to be the final match, there has been a lot of debate so far. Discussions have gone on with regard to goal line technology after the refereeing blunder in the England versus Germany round of sixteen match.
There has also been talk of introducing technology on a wider scale because of the amount of wrong decisions that have been taken by the referees so far in the World Cup. Teams like Mexico have already complained to FIFA because of the low quality of officiating during the matches. There was also the controversial exit of Ghana, the last African team, from the tournament. Following all these tragedies there have been calls for a change in rules. All in all a lot has been going on in the past month in the foot-balling world.
The most important and the slightly less controversial discussion however, is the type of football that has been played in the World Cup so far. American football has presented a very famous sports quote. A quote which says that offensive football wins games but defensive football wins championships. It seems football managers i.e. soccer managers, have taken heed and have implemented this philosophy, not only in the latest World Cup but also in previous ones where the focus has been on not losing their matches rather than winning them. Therefore this is not the first time these tactics have come to the front.
In the last three World Cups, teams which have won the World Cup have kept three clean sheets in their last four knock out matches i.e. the round of sixteen match, quarter final match, the semi-final followed by the final match.
During the Germany World Cup 2002, Italy won without conceding a single goal from open play, something that signifies the importance of a tight defense. Before that in 2002, Brazil won the World Cup after keeping a clean sheet against Germany in the final, Turkey in the semi-finals and Belgium in the round of sixteen.
France in 1998 followed a similar line, they kept a clean sheet against Brazil in the final, Italy in the quarter final and Paraguay in the round of sixteen match. In 1994, Brazil won the world cup and on their way to the championship kept clean sheets against U.S.A in the round of sixteen, Sweden in the semi-finals and Italy during the finals.
Spain have yet to concede a goal so far in their knockout stage matches. They have kept clean sheets against Paraguay and Portugal in their round of sixteen and quarter final ties. Germany also kept a clean sheet in their quarter final tie but they did let in a goal against the English in the round of sixteen stage.
On the other hand Netherlands have the most despairing of defensive records in the knockout stages so far. They have not kept a clean sheet in any of their knockout matches so far. They conceded two goals against Uruguay in the semi-finals, one against Brazil in the quarter finals and one against Slovakia in the round of sixteen. However, they are in the final of the FIFA World Cup 2010 after beating Uruguay by three goals to two.
This defensive trend has caused star players to fail in this World Cup so far. Players such as Ribery, Messi, Kaka and Rooney exited the World Cup with their respective teams after scoring zero goals during the tournament. Ronaldo did score one in his team’s 7-0 demolition of North Korea in the group stages but he was largest unspectacular during most of the World Cup.
Defensive organization and commitment has resulted in these players suffering from a shortage of free space on the field during matches, and have sadly always been marked by defensive players whenever they’ve gotten the ball.
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