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The World Cup is over and football fans will have to suffer from withdrawal symptoms over the next four years. Yet while World Cups are rightfully seen as the end “result” for individuals and team, they are only a part of the evolution of football as a whole. Every tournament leaves its imprint on the game as we learn more about the keys to success in the sport.
The 2018 World Cup was no different as we got to see several pieces of innovation from managers right from Gareth Southgate’s set-pieces to Juan Carlos Osorio’s counter-attacking Mexican side that helped end the German dynasty.
Other moves failed as Jorge Sampaoli’s pressing style led to a miserable Round of 16 for Argentina. So what are some tactical takeaways from this FIFA World Cup?
Note: All Statistics (unless otherwise mentioned) are courtesy of WhoScored
#3 Defence remains key to international football
Whenever we tend to look back at previous winners of the World Cup, we often focus on their offensive attributes: Spain’s tiki-taka in 2010, Germany’s inter-play in 2014 or even the quality of Brazil’s attacking trio in 2002.
Yet what gets forgotten is the fact that their defences were crucial to the victory of each of these teams. For example, Spain only conceded two goals in their run to the title in 2010. The same was true for France in 2018 as their defence was key in their run to the final.
While Les Blues conceded six goals during their run, most of those were either fluky defensive mistakes (Umtiti’s handball against Australia or Lloris’s mistake in the final) or absolutely brilliant goals (Angel Di Maria in the Round of 16 or Ivan Perisic in the final).
Otherwise, the French defence was brilliant, led by the imperious partnership of Raphael Varane and Samuel Umtiti supported by midfield players N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba. The defensive performances against Uruguay and Belgium were key in their run to the title.
It was that defence that allowed France to defend deep- France spent more time in their own third (27% of all touches in games involving them) than any other favourite. Even then, France conceded less shots (mainly inefficient long-range efforts) than any knockout team other than Spain or Brazil.
That was mainly due to their defence. Their ability to defend deep allowed them to unleash Kylian Mbappe on the counter-attack. It would be no exaggeration to suggest that the main reason why France won was their defence.
Throughout the tournament, teams that were more defensively solid were victorious even with less attacking talent. Examples include the runs of Russia and Sweden to the quarter-finals as their organization helped them beat Spain and Switzerland respectively.
Even in the case of Croatia’s success, it was their defence which enabled the Vatreni to reach the final (only conceding five goals until the final). As the old American adage goes: Offense sells Tickets, Defence wins Championships.
#2 Set-pieces are incredibly important
International Football is not the same as club football which is not surprising considering that international teams only get to train together for a few weeks every year. Club Football teams have so much more synergy and tactical acumen than international teams which rely more heavily on individual talent.
This is why even talented international teams can struggle to break down an organized and decent defence.
Yet what international teams can practice in their limited time together is set-pieces. This is what Gareth Southgate realized when preparing for the World Cup. Having been inspired by tactics in basketball and American Football, Southgate decided to focus on innovative set-pieces in training.
This worked perfectly, as a relatively untalented English team relied on set-pieces. The Three Lions scored six goals out of their twelve goals from set-pieces, while also earning (and converting) two penalties as a result of opposition players’ physicality during corners.
Without those goals, perhaps England wouldn’t have had the campaign that they did. Other teams also managed to exploit corners and free-kicks: four of Colombia’s six goals came from clever set-pieces (with Yerry Mina being a particular target).
A similarly uninspiring Uruguay team scored four goals from set-pieces, relying on the aerial power of centre-backs Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez.
Even the champions France relied heavily on set plays: four of their seven goals from the quarterfinals onwards came as a result of Antoine Griezmann’s corners and free-kicks (including a penalty earned from a corner). Future International managers will try to replicate Southgate’s England.
#1 Possession is not enough
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona dominated European football with tiki-taka while many of his players won every international football trophy there is to win while playing for the Spanish national team.
After that era, teams have accepted that the best way to win in football is to dominate possession with several skilled midfielders. That continues to be true in domestic football. For example, the six teams that had the most possession in the Premier League were the six teams that finished to pin the league.
Yet in international knockout football, possession is no longer enough as Joachim Low would tell you. Low’s German side averaged 65.3% possession, yet were eliminated in the group stages after losing two of their three games in the group stages.
Yet this dominance in possession did not lead to clear-cut chances as Germany’s net expected goals (a measure of the quality of chances created for and against a team) was below Mexico and Sweden’s (ac(teams which enjoyed far less possession).
The same was true for Spain: they were the only team to enjoy more possession than the Germans. La Roja struggled to break down defensive teams after their first game against Portugal: drawing with Morocco and only beating Iran as a result of a lucky ricochet.
This culminated in their elimination at the hands of against Russia, where they made more than 1000 passes yet only scored a goal as a result of an own goal.
However, the reduction in the importance of possession was not limited to Spain and Germany’s early eliminations. For example, even France (a team with the talent to dominate possession) chose not to do so as they averaged 49.1% possession throughout the tournament.
In fact, 8 out of 15 knockout games were won by the time with less possession- a remarkable statistic. Tiki-Taka may have changed the game, but possession is no longer enough.
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