[ad_1]
There are 14 teams still alive at the 2018 World Cup, and none of them are Portugal or Argentina. The teams of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two best undisputed players of the last decade, will once again fail to win a World Cup. Incredibly, no player has ever scored in the knockout phase.
For the first time perhaps, no player team has ever been considered among the big favorites to win the tournament. France, Brazil, Spain, a madly disappointing Germany, and everlasting black horses all have shorter odds in most bookmakers. After the group stage, England and Croatia have also done a lot more publicity. It was clear from the first match of the World Cup that Argentina simply did not have the talent to support Messi, while Portugal's plans A, B, C and D all involved a variant of "Ronaldo wins us the game."
These are never really "teams". Portugal and Argentina were destined, as Real Madrid and Barcelona often are, to be support systems for their superstars players. But these national teams have had a big problem – it does not work as well for international teams as for big clubs.
Madrid and Barcelona both have the advantage of signing players from any country and attracting whatever they want. It makes sense that the clubs of Ronaldo and Messi place them exactly in the role that they want to play, and then rearrange the other elements around them to make the most of them. If a player is not doing well, it is easy to sell it and buy another one. These clubs can even go out and sign specialized players, rare and ultra-specific, because they are the biggest teams in the world and compete only for talent.
Obviously, Portugal and Argentina can not do that. tried to put up their tactics as they could. It was a terrible idea – the roles that Messi and Ronaldo play at the club level only work because their clubs could go out and acquire the necessary accompaniment pieces. But trying to keep Messi and Ronaldo in these roles, Portugal finds itself in situations where Adrien Silva was trying to do the same job as Luka Modrić, and Argentina in a place where they did not succeed to get Messi without a player similar to Andrés Iniesta or Philippe Coutinho
This contrasts strongly with the philosophies of the opponents who eliminated Messi and Ronaldo on Saturday. Neither Edinson Cavani nor Luis Suárez play in 4-4-2 defensive and direct at the club level, but they adapted their games to make the most of the match and adapt to the Uruguayan manager Óscar Tabárez's system. The boss of France, Didier Deschamps, is often criticized for using a negative style that does not let Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann express themselves to the best of their ability, but they performed the roles that were attributed to them in his conservative system
. Best teams in the young days of Messi and Ronaldo, when they were major players asked to adapt a system, rather than superstars that teams were built around. Whether or not their national team managers have been able to go back at this World Cup is questionable – Messi and Ronaldo are so used to the fact that the teams are completely built around them at that time . a month of workouts to get it right. But with hindsight, knowing that their teams went out in the round of 16, we can say that they should have definitely tried.
For the future, it is easy to see a similar problem arise in Brazil. They seem entirely dependent on Neymar doing Neymar Things, but they could really use an Adrien Rabiot or Giovani Lo Celso to stick in their midfield. The Seleção could really use Kylian Mbappe on the opposite wing instead of Willian too. But as Brazil currently exists, it is easy for opposing defenses to deceive Neymar and Marcelo, so club teams can never cheat against Neymar Barca and PSG teams
. the benefit of the busiest golden generation that a country can dream of, trying to structure an international team around a superstar – and in particular trying to match that structure to the team of high level of a player – does not seem to work at the moment. Having the restriction of choosing players from one country means that a manager is not going to have the perfect complementary parts to choose from.
The best international teams find a way to play that suits a lot of their players, and that is why this year's World Cup will not be won by Argentina or Portugal. The stars of this World Cup have been very adaptable players – Luka Modrić, Edinson Cavani, Christian Eriksen, Philippe Coutinho, and even Kylian Mbappe, 19, who has played many offensive roles in various systems during his career.
Messi and Ronaldo have not failed at the World Cup because they are not good enough, or because they do not have the mentality of producing on the big scene. This is because, due to the inability of their coaches to badert their authority and their own ego, their teams have not been built to succeed in international football.
Source link
