On Friday night, Zlatko Dalic mentioned tiki-taka used to be a “thing of the past”. Spain had 900 touches of the ball in opposition to Morocco and nonetheless misplaced, the Croatia trainer identified. “The future lies in the speed of counter-attacks and fast transitions.” Sat alongside, Matteo Kovavic didn’t agree. “I just like the tiki-taka taste,” he said. But speed mattered and it was “compactness, toughness and counter-attacks that gained trophies,” said the Croatia midfielder.
Spain went home 11 days ago, coach Luis Enrique has stepped down but conversations on the idea of their football continue here. In the vast media center at the Qatar National Convention Center and in its auditoriums where Arsene Wenger and Juergen Klinsmann held forth on the tournament and the trends they saw from 62 of the 64 games.
Both felt Spain had enough quality to come back. “But they are going to want gamers who can end off the series,” said Klinsmann, captain of the FIFA Technical Study Group (TSG). Teams that can in a few seconds break and complete a move have done well here, he said citing the examples of France, Argentina and Brazil. If his possession game was working so well why would Pep Guardiola get Erling Haaland to Manchester City, asked Klinsmann. “You want someone within the field to attain.”
International soccer wishes strikers with the standard to complete probabilities, mentioned Klinsmann, a World Cup winner in 1990 and Germany and USA trainer in 2006 and 2014 respectively. “From the top league through the youth development systems, players with No 9 characteristics need to be developed. For a long time, because of the Spanish way of playing there was a lot of emphasis on passing after one or two touches. Going by what we saw here that needs to change. There needs to be players who are efficient in front of goal, who can take risks and be courageous in one on ones.”
And players who can make runs from behind. There has been more of that, Wenger said, explaining the contradiction between fewer crosses (13.5 per game, down from 14.3 in 2018) but more goals from crosses (45 here and 24 in Russia). “The quality of crosses has gone up. There have been more runs from behind, often without the ball, and that has helped center forwards who are efficient in one on one situations.”
Goals from corner-kicks and oblique free-kicks had been fewer than Russia however the pageant has already noticed 163 objectives, two greater than in 2018. There has additionally been a 34% building up in balls performed at the back of the defence, knowledge offered via TSG on Saturday confirmed. With maximum groups who prefer to stay a compact middle, there was 21% much less entrance 3rd incursions down the center and receiving the ball within the center has long past down 14%. Teams that would close down passing channels from the center ensured that the match by no means took off for gamers comparable to Robert Lewandowski, mentioned Klinsmann.
In soccer what occurs in a single a part of the pitch regularly influences different spaces. As groups have blocked the middle, the wing backs’ position was extra essential right here, mentioned Klinsmann. Achraf Hakimi used to be slightly going ahead within the workforce phases as used to be Kyle Walker in opposition to Mbappe, he mentioned. “And we know how influential they can be doing that.”
Along with Hakim Ziyach, the duo used to be a continuing danger in opposition to France exploiting area at the back of Mbappe until France introduced on Marcus Thurram to plug that and moved Mbappe right into a extra central place.
Like with each version – Mbappe used to be one in Russia – there were a couple of younger stars comparable to Jamal Musiala, Jude Bellingham and Cody Gakpo. “Mbappe’s age means he should have a good World Cup future,” mentioned Klinsmann of the French ahead who isn’t but 24.
World Cup debuts getting more youthful will lead to not burnouts however longer careers, mentioned Wenger. “I first played Messi in 2006 and even now, 16 years later he has been giving us pleasure. We should be grateful for that. Players like Olivier Giroud, Luka Modric and Messi have made a great impact on this tournament and it shows despite the negative impact of health and wealth on the life of a modern player, their careers have gotten longer. They begin early and end late,” he mentioned.