2010 FIFA World Cup Technical Report - I Beg To Differ.

The FIFA Technical Reports precedes every tournament the football body holds for the purposes of assessing the growth of the game and study trends, among other things. The report, compiled by the Technical Study Group (TSG) and drawn up by the technical development department of football's world governing body, contains a match-by-match analysis, detailed statistics as well as an appraisal of each team's performance.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup report states that teams played with great individual players enjoyed success. The reports here fails to recognise the obvious case of what was a let down to a lot of fans of world football when known individual players were a major flop. Argentina had the best player on the planet in Lionel Messi and yet they did not perform to expectation, as were Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the finest footballers on earth. Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba, Robinho, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney were never visible. They were rendered insignificant by the modern tactics that were effectively employed by average teams.This omission by the FIFA Technical Team is unfortunate as it will lead less technical coaches to believe trends are in one way, yet they are elsewhere.

I must say, besides these high-profile players' flops, we saw individuality being dismantled by team work, as Uruguay, New Zealand, USA, Japan, Korea and Ghana powered their way at the expense of teams like Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Italy and Argentina, who are blessed with selfishly gifted players. Team organisation is paramount in the modern game. The report says nothing about the role of intelligent players with leadership qualities to motivate and organise the players during the match which was very significant. Diego Forlan won the Player Of The Tournament probably because of the great goals he scored. For me, his stature and presence drove Uruguay. Only the goals enhanced his leadership philosophies on the field of play. 

The TSG acknowledges that the top two teams at the 2010 FIFA World Cup had good players, and that Spain, though eventual winners, were reserved in their initial approach. The Spanish worked for each other tirelessly throughout, never going an extra mile to waste unnecessary energy unless they really needed the result. The Dutch shoved and pushed hard crushing the opposition until the last minutes of the tournament. The team work from both teams coupled with moments of brilliance from their quality players and exploiting the one-on-one situations are some things the report wants us to believe were the real difference in the World Cup.

Gerd Mueller and David Villa, as did a lot of attacking by drifting to the wings and attacked the central defenders at high pace. I agree that the teams often went to the goal-line creating space and played the ball square or back on the ground to the prime scoring areas for on-rushing team-mates. Among some of the points I agree with, is the contribution of substitutes. They influenced a lot of the outcomes of the matches. It must be said that also the coaches who toyed around with their line-ups due to loss of form or injury came right. Spain had to sacrifice Torres to win their last matches.

The report tells of teams failing to make an impression due to the pressure of expectation. They name South Africa, Brazil, Italy, France and England as their examples. I find this an excuse for the failure of the over-rated teams that were proved to be average. Good teams win under a lot of pressure, just as championships are won by teams that can get results away from home. A single obvious observation of the TSG is the interchangeability of zonal marking and man-to-man marking during the course of the match. That has actually dissolved into the fluidity of the game by default and can not be overstated.

I must admit the correctness and usefulness of the fact that the balls played behind the defence produced lots of goals, 31. There is no substitute for statistic to measure the progress of the game at this day and age. Some coaches like Supersport's Gavin Hunt do not believe these matter. Anyway, the reports says that in 46 out of 64 matches, the team scoring first went on to win the match, and that there were 6 goalless altogether. This is a fact that worries the football powers as it resulted in the lower number of goals compared to previous World Cups. Sepp Blatter has since called for the scrapping of extra time to encourage attacking football.

In the other drawn matches, 8 of them, goals were scored. A paltry 4 matches were recorded in which teams conceded and came back to win the match. The USA was one team that produced dramatic come backs. Teams like Cameroon lost matches in which they led. The most encouraging thing about the World Cup was the use of youthful players, especially by Ghana and Germany. There were 123 under-23 years players and 99 of them actually played.

There is one point I disagree with on the report. They claim that successful teams defended close to their goal areas without conceding. Long range shots were scored if the teams defended too deep. Teams tried to squeeze the game by pushing forward as soon as they won possession. The transition of defence to attack conversion was very essential though it demanded lots of energy.The tactical adaptation depending on the result very pivotal. It was mandatory to have good passing, free-flowing play and healthy aggression(combat). Nigeria and Brazil suffered the stupidity of misplaced or negative aggression as their players lost their cool. The teams could never survive numerical inferiority.

The FIFA Technical Committee comprises very honourable gentlemen of the game. A few or note are Jomo Sono, George Weah, Kalushya Bwalya, Romario De Souza Faria (recent addition) and the Football Committee is headed by Franz Beckenbauer, has Roger Milla, Abedi Pele, Bobby Charlton, Eusebio, Christian Karembeu, Hugo Sanchez, Pele, Gordon Smith and Dejan Savicec among others. I am not sure which of these men sits in the Technical Study Group (TSG).

If you want to see what I think of the report on formations, please watch this space. Coming soon!