Chile 3 Australia 1; 2014 Fifa World Cup Analysis

This was one match expected to have many goals given the experience of the South Americans over the Asians better known for rugby and cricket. However, the similarity of styles at the beginning, each team employing a textbook 1-4-2-3-1 saw the match being an open affair with clear-cut lines between units and the intentions of each team clear.

Chile were technically superior, quick in take-off, accurate in passing, positive in ball reception, incisive in penetration and effective in wing play. They strived to be first on the ball and take on the Australians.

The Socceroos showed some tactical discipline in maintaining their shape under pressure, determined to give as much as they took by getting behind the ball early while keeping the defensive line at the edge of the penalty box.

The first moment the Chileans breached that line, they scored. The ball was sent into the right channel of the box, sent across goal, received by the winger who drew out the goalkeeper on the by-line, sold him a dummy and deftly crossed the ball which was headed to Alexis Sanchez who controlled it, and quickly side-footed it past a defender obscuring the view of the goalkeeper behind him. The keeper’s reflex was only enough to touch the goal-bound shot for the first goal.

The crosser was not pressurised enough, and the cross was not headed clear and wide by the taller Aussies while the tight-marking was not duly employed in the box. The midfield had failed to cut off that supply after they adjusted their shape to a 1-4-1-4-1, suddenly the four midfielders beaten by a single pass.

Utilising the emotional drain caused by the goal, Chile stabbed home again. That midfield job failure on the right side was exposed again as the ball was quickly fed to Sanchez who neatly threaded the ball to Valdivia. The defence was drawn out and sucked into the ball by over-shifting to its left , leaving the central defensive position gapping. The defenders failed to communicate to watch their blind side and the goalkeeper did not command the backline to stay put and see both the third man running and the ball as they just ball-watched.

Valdivia controlled the ball with the outside of his right foot as he set up himself for a shot. That excellent first touch enabled him to make a curly scoop that was powerful enough to rise over the keeper and lower under the cross bar.

There was no consistency in the tucking in of the Aussie defence as the spaces began to show at the back. They screened and shifted well but the pace of the nibble-footed Chileans was a shade too quick for them. Chile began to throw bodies forward in almost a 1-2-3-2-3 formation with the goalkeeper sweeping. To be honest with Australia, they were just too poor in the final third. They tried counter-attacks that made them even spongier. The lack of inroads into the Chilean defence and the goals psychologically visibly drained the Socceroos tremendously.    

The frantic Chilean attacks exposed their back as they were hit by a counter attack from the left. The ball was flighted into the box for Leckie to fluff the opportunity and the ball was pushed to the centre line on the right, where it was won by a committed sliding tackle, pushed into midfield and then wide again to a crossing position. The driven cross was met by Tim Cahill who leaped high in the midst of three defenders, to jerk-knife the powerful header past a desperate goalkeeper who had no chance to deal with ball the cross and the second ball.

Australia became content for a while, failing to close the passing lines and without employing triangulation to deal with the pace of Chile. They let too many passes pass through the units with ease. They were not combative enough in midfield and they were almost punished with each attack.

There was growth in confidence and willpower in the second half as they asked all the questions but they moved into offside positions a shade too early, and were denied goals by good keeper heroics. Each passing phase that they threatened the goal gave them the impetus to soldier on and search for an equaliser. They competed and engaged in duels and creating space for Cahill between central defenders.

At the conclusion of the match, an attack from the right attracted a central defender to dive into a tackle and the ball being played to an unmarked player in a central position, whose first shot was blocked by an on-rushing keeper. The ricochet was ferociously met by a man from midfield who shot from the edge of the 18-yard box with his left foot, a hard and low screamer to conclude a wonderful spectacle of the beautiful game. This was the best-officiated match of the 2014 Fifa World Cup so far. The referee was African.

How Holland beat Spain 5-1 at the Fifa 2014 World Cup

It turned out to be an extremely entertaining and tactical battle of the giants when the Spanish played the Dutch in their opening group match. Despite the numerical systems employed by each team, what dominated their display were the functions of the players in their units. The quest to dominate play in midfield and neutralise the power of the other made the match not so easy to the eye until Spain got their grove back and stitched a few passes and moves together through Iniesta and Xavi, but Holland got the goals from the evergreen Robin van Persie.

The reigning champions had an extra edge in midfield as they operated what appeared to be an odd 1-4-6 while the Dutch retaliated with their unconventional 1-5-5. Spain struggled with the final pass as Diego Costa seemed out of sync with his mates. The interplay in midfield was thwarted but tight marking, though the closing down by the Dutch was a little slow and the West Europeans did not capitalise.

For their part, The Netherlands had few players behind the ball at the beginning and gave possession quite easily. It was at one of those occasions that they gave away the ball, failed to close down the opposition and never pressurised the man with the ball that a splitting pass beat seven defenders to Costa who was given room to turn and his trailing leg was caught by a defender, earning him a penalty.

As a rule of thump, the defender was supposed to stay on his feet, keep Costa facing away from the goal on his weaker foot, but the rush of blood in the head saw a rushed decision that resulted in a converted penalty kick by Xavi Alonso. The Spanish were guilty of losing possession easily. A long pass from the D-zone to the left midfield position was played on two touches, as a long searching ball to Robin van Persie who timed his run perfectly, executed a spectacular diving header that looped over Ike Casillas for an equaliser. There was no pressure on the man on the ball, no marking in midfield and the central defenders were far apart. The man nearest to RVP did not see the man and the ball, but just ball watched.

The second half saw the Dutch taking command of proceedings, causing a few concerns for the Spanish. The later easily lost possession in the middle of the park as the former knitted five passes before sending a long ball into the box where the Spanish central defenders were again found way separate. Arjen Robben had to bring the ball down, turn Pique inside out, showing AR his shirt number. Robben had to deal with a stretching defender and beat Casillas with a hard and low shot.

There was a tussle on the left as Robben had a fantastic run on the left and fought for the ball hard, which resulted in the free-kick. A flighted ball to the far-post was missed by the goalkeeper and there was no defender on the far post and the challenge offered was just token.

Casillas failed to deal with a back-pass and gifted RVP with a goal. He had to fight for the ball, compete to get to the ball and toe-poke it before the recovering defender got close. Jose Mourinho should be justifying his lack of trust on the Spain number one goalkeeper while at Real Madrid.

Spain tried to fight back and took the fight to the Dutch. In their quest to penetrate from the right with interplay, they lost the ball almost at the corner flag. The Dutch sent a long ball to the centre and AR chased and ran the entire half of the field, found the energy to control the ball after drawing the goalkeeper. Casillas was flattened on his bums as Robben swept to his left as he hooked the ball, dummied the two defenders and fired a powerful pile driver into the net. It became a clinical Dutch masterpiece as the match ended 5-1, a record score-line against reigning Fifa World Cup champions.

How Mexico beat Cameroon 1-0: 2014 Fifa World Cup

Mexico faced and beat Cameroon 1-0 in a match played under dreadful conditions. The bodies took a beating in the rain and the heavy clothing usually designed to be lightweight under extreme conditions. The ball naturally sucks some water and becomes heavy, skids off the surface and becomes tricky to manipulate. The socks get wet and water fills the boots and the feet are slippery inside the socks and boots. The vision would be greatly affected, as well as judgement of the speed and flight of the ball.

As for the actual match, the atrocious decision-making by Cameroon on going forward, especially the attacking third, was a glaring disappointment. The Africans played a 1-5-3-1-1 while Mexico were on a fluid 1-3-5-2. The Mexico midfield brushed aside the Cameroonians, who were outnumbered and generally very weak in midfield, with some relative ease.

There was the obvious lack communication, the bad decision-making, poor concentration, exposure at the wings and overall bad defensive behaviour by Cameroon. They played too flat and very square, surviving many scares by the swift-moving Mexico forwards who were passing precisely and moving fluently to good attacking positions. With a few ounces of luck, patience and clinical finishing, they could have wrapped the match earlier in the first half. Their transition was swifter and relevant to keep Cameroon at bay.  

The goal came from the right midfield after, again, a series of errors. Quick inter-passing founded on the acres of spaces and lack of pressure on the ball and poor marking were complimented the long distances of support and wrong angles of support at the defence of Cameroon. There was not much compactness in the midfield either. The slow defending and central defenders playing miles apart, allowing a free shot, lack of follow-up on the rebound made the poor midfield job look innocent.

The goalkeeper could have punched the ball wide, even though, it must be understood that the parry was a reflex action in itself. He did enough to get down and have his powerful hand behind the ball. His efforts to get up and try to deal with the second ball was a sign of great agility and concentration.  

The 2014 Fifa World Cup Brazil welcomes you.

After years of waiting, the 2014 Fifa World Cup kicked off between hosts, Brazil, and Croatia in Sao Paulo. It was inevitable a Brazilian was going to be first on the score sheet, albeit on the wrong side. Real Madrid’s Marcelo swept in a low cross from the left within the early minutes of play. The second scorer was a Brazilian in Neymar after some hassling and tussling by Oscar.

How did the goals occur? The normal Samba way is to attack strong and in numbers. This exposed the defence as both wing defenders scamper down the flanks. Many players get ahead of the ball and the central defenders played wide apart. After winning the ball in their defending third, Croatia quickly played wide and crossed a hard and low ball that touched a few feet and that fatal one from Marcelo.

A series of errors occurred. At the centre line, Paulinho was supposed to stand his ground, not dive in and then delay the attack. As the pace of the Croatian was high, the body shape would be to show the ball carrier inside where there is already traffic. This did not happen. The ball went to the wing. At that point, the delivery of the cross must be denied. Unfortunately, the cross came, and the first man was supposed to deal with that cross and he did not. Neither did the third man. Marcelo was the fourth man and he touched the ball home.

Given the first two steps after losing the ball were wrong or bad decisions, it is immaterial that the defenders played that phase of the game facing their goal. Delaying the man on the ball would allow recovery runs to get players between the ball and the goal, and gain territorial advantage where the defenders have their back to their goalkeeper.

Croatia were guilty of letting Oscar’s confidence overflow. The Chelsea midfielder won two ball in succession, the first while on the ground. His first touch was woeful, but he was left to recover, beat a few players, fall and pass the ball to a team-mate who lost it, steal it and play it to Neymar. Two defenders were supposed to stop the Barcelona talisman. They failed and the goalkeeper could not do much despite the poorly executed shot. There was more direction in the shot that power in that effort, and just about enough accuracy to escape the fingertips and to touch the upright.

Both sides employed 1-4-2-3-1, with Brazil employing a very patient but usual approach and Croatia naturally counter-attacking. The first few minutes saw Brazil pressing up-field, trying to win the ball where they had lost it. The transition from attack to defence as well as defence to attack slowed down drastically leading to that opening goal. The Europeans were a little urgent and much more efficient, producing very clear-cut scoring opportunities. Their direct play produce sight at goal several times before Brazil could settle.

A settled game grew a little tactical and boring for spectators until a soft touch on Fred led to the penalty that Neymar converted for his brace. It was not that the big striker was a threat as he had his back to the goal. Letting the ball get there in the first place was bad defending. The home side played much better with less pressure but their vulnerability was obvious. They exhibited nervousness in counter attacks as their opponents threw kitchen sinks and all at them.

They utilised one counter attack of their own after a toe-poke by man-of-the-match Oscar who picked a long clearance from David Luiz. Goalkeeper Julio Cesar had a few long-range saves before that moment. That final goal followed one wicked block in injury time when Luka Modric’s troops were probably smelling blood and sensing an equaliser. They got exposed by a single long clearance and the attacking pace that ended with a crowning of that man of the match performance by 22-year old Chelsea man. It was a case of nerves and keeping check on the temperament in the final stages of the show that would be enjoyed by the hosts for the days to come.