5 tactics that are becoming a trend at the World Cup

The Athletic recently shared an interesting article related to the topic of tactics on the pitch for the World Cup. Below are the tactics that are becoming a trend at the biggest football festival on the planet.

The return and rise of the "number 10" position

In 2019, midfielder Juan Mata once said that the No. 10 player model might not disappear but just change to another form. However, reality is proving that some teams are starting to emphasize the role of "No. 10". For example, in the England national team, coach Gareth Southgate called James Maddison, a midfielder of Leicester City, a classic "No. 10".

The same is true of Neymar in the Brazilian national team, or the pair Daichi Kamada and Takumi Minamino in the Japanese national team. In addition, there are a series of other examples such as Jamal Musiala, Thomas Mueller (Germany), Christian Eriksen (Denmark), Dusan Tadic (Serbia), Cody Gakpo (Netherlands), Davies, Junior Hoilett (Canada), De Bruyne and Eden Hazard (Belgium).

Take advantage of set pieces

The 2018 World Cup saw a record number of goals scored from set pieces (35%). Since then, teams have been extremely effective in converting free kicks into goals. The evidence is that 3/4 of the next major tournaments (Asian Cup 2019, EURO 2020, Gold Cup 2021 and Copa America 2021) have a goal rate from set pieces higher than 25%. In the 2022 World Cup, Valencia scored the first goal of the tournament from the 11m spot.

To play high pressing, teams need to have players who move actively and are good at fighting, making it difficult for the opponent to deploy the ball up front. This style of play requires a lot of physical strength and good coordination between the players up front. In the opening match of the 2022 World Cup, the host team Qatar was suffocated by Ecuador. However, with the same style of play, the Senegal players, despite causing a lot of trouble for the Netherlands, still lost to an opponent who was extremely good at keeping distance and passing appropriately.

Dagger in sleeve

The 2022 World Cup is the first World Cup where coaches can make up to five substitutions per match. In the knockout round, they can also make one more change if the teams go into extra time. Being able to make so many substitutions allows the captains to comfortably "hide" important cards until the decisive moment to suddenly strike the opponent. Of course, to do so, they must choose the right players.

For example, Japanese midfielder Kaoru Mitoma scored twice against Australia in seven minutes after coming off the bench in a match in March this year. In the French national team, striker Olivier Giroud is also a notable name. This tall striker has the ability to seize opportunities very well and is currently ranked 2nd in the list of players who have scored the most goals when coming off the bench in the Premier League (20 goals).

Midfielder drops back to support centre back

For teams playing with a back four, when the full-backs are high up the central midfielder dropping between the centre-backs to transition to a back three is often very effective. This allows for more variety in attacks, while also minimising the risk of a team allowing the opposition to counter-attack. In teams like the US or Uruguay, midfielders like Tyler Adams or Federico Valverde often choose this solution to help their team reduce pressure.