World Cup lessons for the U.S.

I think it is easy. Good defense and...................

Set pieces, set pieces, set pieces, set pieces.

 

Yesterday the better team lost. It happens. What I learned from tournament is confirmation that World Cup is played by young players.

 

We do not have a stopper like Kante. We had J Jones, he wasn't the greatest, but now we do not have a stopper.

 

Are you kidding me, we have Michael Bradley!
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Yes, sarcasm!

 

The idea that possession rules international soccer should be dead by now. Spain won with it, but really no one since. Surrendering possession creates space behind the defense and speed on the counter exploits that space.

Soon we will see a game that actually plays out the old joke of two teams standing around the center circle taunting the other side in an attempt to make them take the ball.

What will be next? That's interesting. I'd expect teams to become less confident in possession, which will lead to more boring games.

 

I disagree, they probably have the best players in the tournament, but best team got second place. You take away the own goal and hand ball and France doesn't get the third and fourth goal when Croatia is trying to push forward. Luck plays a big part in this. The Croatia domination throughout the game was impressive, of course everybody gets enamored by the score line because it is all that matters at the end of the day, it is soccer, the best team not always win.

 

Both teams had a great tournament. In the final, France was not that impressive except in those few minutes where they scored back to back goals. However, over the whole tournament, and specifically in the knockout round, France did something no recent WC winner has done. They went all 4 ko games without going to extra time, therefore not having to win by pks. Croatia's 3 ko wins all involved extra time, and 2 were won by pks. Another issue is that France only fell behind once in the 4 ko games. Overall France was the best team in the field.

 

I think there is counter attacking as a tactic, then there is bunkering and praying. What the US did against France in the friendly is closer to the second. What Real Madrid do and France do is a tactic. France and Real Madrid don't really press much, their line of confrontation is not high, but they are rarely with 9-10 behind the ball. They have numbers back, but are in a shape that lets them break with numbers easily. At least, that is how this novice sees it.

There is also high press/counter press/counter attacking soccer like Liverpool plays. I don't remember any team really doing this at the World Cup for large stretches of games. The conventional wisdom is that this is too complicated for national team use. Germany possibly tried to play this way but their midfielders were not suited to it and they got killed on the counter.

The USMNT is in a position to play more of their games as the favorite and a small number of games as a decided underdog. So, the next four years will probably see many play like France (again, who basically played like Real Madrid) and even fewer play like Spain (and Barcelona and to some extent Croatia). When France played us or Australia, they were more proactive because they had to be. We will need to proactive more than reactive.

Pogba and Kante were perfect for France's strategy. Rakitic and Modric allowed Croatia to pass teams to death in second halves. If McKennie and Adams are our pair, then we could certainly be more protagonistic and press and counter. We will not be able to pass it around Barcelona style.

In other words, with McKennie, Adams, and Pulisic (in the Mbappe role) with Sargent or Wood making space, and good CBs, we are set up to play very much like France. We just won't be able to do it against T&T, as they will be happy to sit back as we sit back.

 

I think that is simplifying the match a bit. It may be that the French manager looked at the Belgian counter attack and realized that if the French played a possession base tactic that the Belgian counter would tear them apart and decided to play in a way that allowed for the Belgians to possess the ball more. I thought it was very curious to see how much space from the beginning France allowed Belgium in the midfield.

I agree with the OP regarding the fact that we shouldn't view a team that plays for the counter as a "weaker" side. I don't think the footballing world feels that way anymore. I think it is a tried and true tactic.

 

Almost every team that has lost to Real Madrid the last two years felt they outplayed them, especially early in the game, and were unlucky. If you go back and watch, when the emotions are gone, Real Madrid is rarely not doing exactly what they want to be doing. The same with France. You perceive that Croatia was dominant because they have the ball in the French half, but they really get no great looks at goal.

In the beginning of the second half, in desperation, Croatia actually goes a bit away from their possession game and go high pressure high tempo. This actually worked well for a bit, until the inevitable French counters (the Nzonzi sub helps tremendously). Much like Liverpool v Real Madrid.

 

Young talent and depth, especially in the attacking and midfield positions. Difficult to make a deep tournament run without 20-somethings in those positions. Teams relying too much on their 30-something vets (Spain, Portugal, Argentina...) went out early. Although hopefully we already learned this lesson in Trinidad last October.

Error-free keeping + the occasional spectacular save can be a valuable x factor. Err, damn, that was Trinidad, too.

Set piece execution gives you a lot of bang for the buck in terms of chance conversion, and even lesser talented teams can score that way.

Well established back line partnership makes a huge difference. Set it well before the tournament and don't tinker.

 

Non-native managers (and even ones with a pretty mixed, though top flight, club track record) can be successful.

 

And Brazil was also a counterattacking team, when Dunga was in charge a few years back.

 

Well said.

As for lessons from the tournament, I think there is one. The game constantly evolves. Drawing a conclusion that counter attacking is king and possession is dead is way to simplistic and actually dangerous. People found answers for Spain and their players got older. Counter attacking worked for France because they have one of the best and fastest 19 year olds ever, Kante and Pogba to jam up the midfield and Lloris had some incredible saves. Don't think that teams wont have a better answer for Mbappe by 2022, whether it be double/triple teaming or kicking him all game like has always happened to big stars.

France beat Belgium on a corner that Courtois has a good chance of saving and could have easily conceded a number of goals. If Belgium wins the whole thing are the lessons different? I dont think so. There are many different ways to play and be successful and the tournament is played to see who that one team is. I personally thought Belgium was the best side in the whole tournament. That doesnt make their style the only way to play. The top teams could implement most of the successful strategies and be effective.

Whether the US plays a possession style or not, the backs need to be able to complete passes to midfielders. Whether the midfield plays deliberately or tries to hit an outlet man or put a man through, they cant turn the ball over. We need to develop soccer players that can play the way France, Belgium, Croatia, Brazil, etc play and then tweak the style based on the personnel. As mentioned before, we will play many games in concacaf against weaker opponents and will likely have more of the ball. We should attempt to play similarly against better opposition over the next couple of years to determine where we can compete and where are we outmatched.

I dont agree with those who claim we have regressed and would start with the strategy we had a the copa in 2016 and build from there. We already have players to replace the ones aged out and have a better side. Let that group slug it out with better opponents and see if they can raise their game and if not, then find a way to hide/cover our weaknesses. Even if we decide to concede space and counter, we still need to be better and more composed in the attacking third. Some people are really excited about our friendly against France. I thought it was a waste of time.

 

Probably a standard teaching, but your midfield needs to be well-organized and a creative force to give yourselves the best shot. I think the strongest performances at the World Cup, even in losing efforts, came when teams got the most out of their midfield. Contest the center of the park, and be able to build through it.

Something the USMNT wasn't particularly good at this cycle.

 

Onward with youth, but experience can count a lot for one or two key moments (Honda with Japan had a rather epic impact as a sub). Avoid short corners, they pretty much always suck.

Just keep trying, and the mental blocks can eventually break (England). Don't expect too much, though. Realistically we'll probably never reach Belgium's talent level, and as good as that team was they didn't win it all.

 

Team speed. If you don't have it you are dead. Our last cycle NT was our slowest NT in the last 20 years.

 

Young legs

Speed

Hunger

Styles and tactics changes from one game to the next. You can play a high press game today, and a counter 3 days laters. It all depends on the opponents. You don't play against Mexico throughout the whole tournament.

 

Mobile and good ball-playing CB's at full-back is a better idea than bad fullbacks.