FIFA World Cup 2018: How France won on the strategy, while the tactics of England went horribly wrong

Just after midnight, the day England played against Croatia in the semifinals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, I received a call from one of my former trainees of football. "Sir," he said, "the coins and corners of Gareth Southgate reminded me of you." I just thought of thanking you for what we learned in football there are more than 15 years old. "

This boy, who was a feared defender in Mumbai's elite division league, is arousing fear among international travelers. His call brought me back to the time when our team – not the most talented in Mumbai – has troubled some of the nationally ranked teams with our strategy (carefully crafted in closed meetings ) and our game pieces.

Simple game. The team that scores more goals than it concedes wins. Football strategy therefore involves planning how to score goals and how to prevent the opposition from scoring. When we put more emphasis on the first, we say that the team plays "offensive football" and when a team is unduly concerned about giving goals, it is "defensive".

Whether at the local or international level Level, plays and strategy play a big role in the success of football teams

The two semi-finals of the World Cup, the France-Belgium match and that between England and Croatia were won and lost. and the tactical clumsiness of their coaches.

The disappointed Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois blamed the French tactics of scoring a goal and sitting in defense for their defeat. He said: "France played like Panama." Kevin De Bruyne, the brilliant Belgian midfielder who also plays Manchester City, was more realistic in his assessment. He believed that France played a plan and executed it well.

Arrived at the match himself, Romelu Lukaku was supposed to trouble the French defense with his tries down the right of the surface. He had been skillfully played as coach ahead, Roberto Martinez against Brazil, helping him open defense and create space for Eden Hazard and De Bruyne. This tactic failed miserably against the French, when Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Hernandez and Golo Kante bottled it.

Hazard, on the other hand was closely "marked" by Paul Pogba leaving De Bruyne – playing as fake 9, to do the work of the ass in the midfield and at the top of the box. The supply line between Hazard and De Bruyne was virtually cut off. Pogba was disciplined enough to retreat and help the defense whenever it was necessary.

France's strategy was simple: defend the Lukaku, Hazard and De Bruyne spaces while allowing Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann to break away and create attacks to keep the Belgian defense busy and honest. A superbly executed plan, after Umtiti put them forward in a corner. It was a tactical victory for Didier Deschamps on Martinez.

Losing is now a dirty word in football. Managers, coaches and millions of dollars lose their jobs overnight after failures. Therefore, you no longer see the flowing style of the Brazilians of yesteryear and you no longer see the tiki-taka of the Spaniards succeed. Modern football is a mix of both, with heavy defenses and raging attacks.

The modern defensive style is reminiscent of Cattenacio's tactics of the mid-twentieth century Italians. Inter Milan had then managed to change the position of "Libero" from the Swiss to Cattenacio (meaning literally "lock the door" in Italian), where a defender played in front or behind a defense to four. The attackers were well marked by four backs and loose bullets were picked up and cleaned by the sweeper. This tactic literally excluded defeat, although it was at the price of an attractive and exciting football.

Catennacio was extinguished with the arrival of the "total football" of the Dutch in the 1970s. Offered by Dutch coach Rinus Michels and presented by Johan Cryuff's genius, total football meant that there were no fixed positions; defenders could become attackers and attackers could become defenders. To score the players was therefore almost impossible.

England's defeat against Croatia was in sharp contrast to France's victory over Belgium. While the defensive tactics of the team led by Hugo Lloris were successful, England went bad. After Kieran Trippier gave the "Three Lions" the advantage in the fifth minute of the match thanks to a beautifully shot free kick, England went on the defensive and tried to maintain its lead. ;a goal. Early in the game, English midfielders were seen pedaling and passing the ball under pressure for goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to clear.

Croatia had seasoned militants in their lineup; England lacked experience. Central midfielders Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic are the best in the world. Still, Southgate made a mistake using a solitary defensive midfielder in John Henderson, who worked with, and nurtured, attacking midfielders Jesse Lingard and Dele Alli. Modric and Rakitic took control of the middle third and set up regular attacks on the dangerous Mario Mandzukic and Ivan Perisic.

In the second half, under pressure from England, Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and others were starving. past. And just when English fans thought their team could get away with just one win, Perisic scored. In overtime, half a million English hearts broke when Mandzukic fired after a Pickford dip at the winner's home slot. Statistics tell a story: In 120 minutes of play, England took 10 penalty shootouts, including six out of the target and four were blocked. On the other hand, Croatia took 22 shots on goal, of which seven were in play.

England had a clear advantage over Croatia in the semifinals. Their game pieces worked well, their attack by Kane worked like a well-oiled machine and of course, the Croats, after two exhausting games ahead of the semi-finals, were tired. The benefits were however wasted when the British tried to end the game in the fifth minute of the match.

I was waiting for a France-England showdown on Sunday, July 15th in the final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Former English star Alan Shearer had hoped a month before the World Cup that England progresses beyond the group stage, keeping in mind what happened in Euro 2016. All the merit of Southgate and his boys to have reached the penultimate round . A better strategy, and perhaps not underestimate the spirit and thirst for success of the Croats, might have allowed the Cup and the match to return home in 2018.

L & # 39; England expects Southgate to deliver in 2022 at the moment, let's see who is the most intelligent: Descamps or Zlatko Dalic

The author is a caricaturist and sportsman. A former fast bowling player and coach of cricket and football, he was for a time the president of the Mumbai District Football Association.