God forbid players interact with the grounds. Should they stop walking on the pitch? Is that too disrespectful?
The current Ajax incarnation mainly relies on possession to protect a high defensive line, which De Boer derived from Pep's Barcelona. The offside trap is more a fail safe rather than the core defense mechanism it was in the past. Tiki taka was an innovation that allowed for an attacking game with a high line post 2005. Not many teams dare to rely solely on offside anymore. AVB tried it at Chelsea and it failed pretty spectacularly. Iirc even Micheal Cox from zonal marking speculated it wasn't possible anymore in the modern game.
A little sore and envious actually. Would have liked your side of the table. Good luck in the next 1-2 games.
I think Costa Rica proved that it is possible but it requires incredible discipline and awareness along with constant practice.
Not sure if this has been posted... regardless, a nice behind-the-scene story. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...vours-brief-spell-in-World-Cup-spotlight.html
“When I started my warm-up the whole Costa Rican bench was confused about what was going on. Their manager [Jose Pinto’s] face when he saw me was priceless. He was looking over to see what our manager was doing. It definitely had an impact. It was a fantastic move.’’ I thought that was priceless !
There should be more comments like this in the thread. We should stop getting too emotional and realize just how difficult it is to execute the offside trap well. Most teams don't do it because they don't think their players are capable of it. I've been very impressed by Costa Rica in this tournament. Their players deserve to play in bigger teams. Some clubs with Brazilian defenders should be thinking of replacing them with a Costa Rican.