Want to send this page or a link to a friend? Click on mail at the top of this window.

More World Cup 2006

             
Posted June 5, 2006
            
surge 2.gif (1573 bytes) surge 1.gif (950 bytes)
nytlogo.gif (3067 bytes)
  
Sports Magazine
                         
WORLD CUP 2006   
                    

INSIDE THE PLAYBOOKS

DAVE SARACHAN, THE COACH OF THE CHICAGO FIRE AND A FORMER ASSISTANT COACH OF THE U.S. MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM, SCOUTS SIX PROMINENT SQUADS AND DESCRIBES THE WAYS THEY LIKE TO GO AT THEIR OPPONENTS.

THE FINE POINTS AS TOLD TO JEFF Z. KLEIN
                          
                            
inside pho 1.gif (15502 bytes)
                                      

ITALY

                                              

THE LOCKDOWN

                              
Italy is extremely organized defensively. They're not as conservative as they used to be, but in big tournaments they still have a conservative mentality. Skip to next paragraph World Cup Playbooks Brazil: All-Out Attack Germany: The Free Kick England: Midfield Power The Netherlands: Wing Play U.S.A.: Going Wide One-on-One The New York Times Sports Magazine. Go to Complete Coverage » They'll start with four defenders, four midfielders and two forwards. If they are protecting a lead, they'll drop Gennaro Gattuso, who's a terrific defensive midfielder, back into a deeper position. They'll drop one of their forwards back or replace him with another central midfielder. All this will lock out the middle. To beat a locked-in team like that, you can try to go wide to cross balls into the box or play long balls from your half and hope your forwards can get to one of them. Or you can concede territory when the ball turns over, and let them come at you. Then, when you win the ball back and they're exposed, you can counterattack and maybe catch 'em. But if you hold on to the ball too much and allow the Italians to get set, they're a very tough team to crack. They're one of the best in the world at killing off a game.
                                        
inside brazil.gif (16704 bytes)
                            

BRAZIL

                 
ALL-OUT ATTACK
                           
Brazil plays a 4-2-2-2: four defenders, two rows of midfielders and two forwards. It's an interesting formation, and unique. Skip to next paragraph World Cup Playbooks Italy: The Lockdown Germany: The Free Kick England: Midfield Power The Netherlands: Wing Play U.S.A.: Going Wide One-on-One The New York Times Sports Magazine. Go to Complete Coverage » It works because Brazil has so many tremendous players who can get forward and also get back to defend. In the midfield, Ronaldinho has the freedom to find the game wherever he wants — not quite as much as when he plays for Barcelona, but still, he's free. He likes to drift to the left, and when he does, the midfielder Kaká will move into a more central role. On the flanks, you've got Cafu and Roberto Carlos running the entire length of the field and serving balls in toward the goal. And then you've got big, strong guys in front, like Ronaldo and Adriano, who are not only gifted with their feet but are good in the air as well. So they attack with three, four, five guys at once. Two defensive midfielders, Emerson and Zé Roberto, hold down the center while everyone is going forward. They can destroy you in a million different ways.
                          
inside germany.gif (16779 bytes)
                                

GERMANY

                      
THE FREE KICK
                           
Taking a free kick is not rocket science, but the Germans do it as well as anyone in the world. Skip to next paragraph World Cup Playbooks Italy: The Lockdown Brazil: All-Out Attack England: Midfield Power The Netherlands: Wing Play U.S.A.: Going Wide One-on-One The New York Times Sports Magazine. Go to Complete Coverage » Generally, they'll put two players over the ball, a left-footer, like Lukas Podolski, and a right-footer, like Bernd Schneider, to disguise which way the ball will come in. Usually they'll hit an in-swinger, which curves in toward the goal at high speed and is very tricky to defend against. Their other players will line up near the goal and then run toward the net. The first runner and maybe the second will be decoys, and then the third out of, say, five runners will be Michael Ballack, their best player, who scored on the United States four years ago on one of these plays. With all this movement in a confined space, it's easy for the defenders to lose a man. If the ball is hit properly, Ballack will just get to it first and head it on target. To make this kind of set piece work, you need movement, good service, guys who are good in the air and courage — to jump into a crowd of people knowing that a goalkeeper is coming. 
                              
inside england.gif (16394 bytes)
                      

ENGLAND

                                   
MIDFIELD POWER
                        
They depend so much on Wayne Rooney. But if he stays injured, England will still probably go with the same 4-4-2 formation — only Peter Crouch will be Michael Owen's partner up front. Skip to next paragraph World Cup Playbooks Italy: The Lockdown Brazil: All-Out Attack Germany: The Free Kick The Netherlands: Wing Play U.S.A.: Going Wide One-on-One The New York Times Sports Magazine. Go to Complete Coverage » Crouch is very tall, very good in the air and much better with his feet than people give him credit for. So even though losing Rooney is a blow, they now have an option they might not have had before: to play longer, more direct balls from the back. Otherwise, they can still build up through the midfield, with Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard playing side by side. Since both of them like to come forward, the question there is, can one of them sit back? But in the end, England is more likely to play longer balls to the front of the opposing goal. There aren't many in the world who are better at that than David Beckham. And every one of these guys across the midfield — Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard and Joe Cole — can shoot very well from distance. 
                      
inside the netherlands.gif (17153 bytes)
                            

THE NETHERLANDS

                       

WING PLAY

                                     
The Dutch use real wingers — rare in international soccer. In this 4-3-3 system, you've got these wide players who operate on the outside. Skip to next paragraph World Cup Playbooks Italy: The Lockdown Brazil: All-Out Attack Germany: The Free Kick England: Midfield Power U.S.A.: Going Wide One-on-One The New York Times Sports Magazine. Go to Complete Coverage » Arjen Robben and Dirk Kuyt are two guys on the wing, and they love to go right at you one-on-one. Robben especially has the ability to cut inside and get shots off. Or he can beat you to the outside and serve crosses into the box in front of the net. Their target man is Ruud van Nistelrooy. He's amazing in the box, a guy who gets so many goals from within six yards of the net. And he's going to get tremendous service from his teammates on the flanks. That's the thing about the Dutch: every player — defenders, midfielders, forwards — has a high level of competence on the ball. There's a historical memory of Total Football here: the great Dutch system of the mid-70's that revolutionized the game, where players would change positions on the fly. I wouldn't call the setup of this team complete Total Football, but they have the personnel to come close.
                                      
inside usa.gif (16559 bytes)
                       

U.S.A.

                        

GOING WIDE

                         
The Americans like to play a 4-4-2 and go through the midfield with short passes from player to player, not over the midfield with long balls directly from the defense to the forwards. It's just a bit of the Latin style. Skip to next paragraph World Cup Playbooks Italy: The Lockdown Brazil: All-Out Attack Germany: The Free Kick England: Midfield Power The Netherlands: Wing Play One-on-One The New York Times Sports Magazine. Go to Complete Coverage » They'll have Claudio Reyna and John O'Brien in the middle of the midfield, anchoring it, and that gives freedom to Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley to go inside or outside. Then, if they want to open it up a bit, either Reyna or O'Brien will move forward a little while the other will stay back and help defend. Here, the ability for them to get around and wide is going to be important. That's where Eddie Lewis and Steve Cherundolo come in; they're both good servers of the ball. Beasley is also a very good wide player. These players will get forward and bring the ball into the corners. In the last World Cup, they made great runs wide against Portugal and Mexico to set up important goals. That'll be a characteristic this time, too.
                              

AND NOW FOR A LITTLE ONE-ON-ONE

                           
and now 2.gif (13472 bytes)
                          

THE FLICK FLACK

Players like Ronaldinho and Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic show remarkable ball control with this move, also known as the elastico. After pushing the ball one way with the outside of his foot, a player immediately drags it back the other way with the inside. When it's done at full speed, the ball appears stuck to his foot.
                                 

and now 1.gif (7504 bytes)

                             

THE SCISSORS

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese dribbling wizard, likes to feign kicking the ball with the outside of his foot and instead steps over it, throwing the defender off balance. He often repeats the move with his other foot: the double scissors. a popular dribbling move, the scissors is also a favorite of France's zinédine zidane.
                      
and now 3.gif (15553 bytes)
                           

THE TURN

As the Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba runs, he changes the direction of the ball by knocking it with the heel of his trailing leg. The move is a variation of one pioneered by the Dutch legend Johan Cruyff, but Drogba and the Argentine attacker Lionel Messi use this trick at a full sprint, leaving defenders wrong-footed.
                                      

ILLUSTRATIONS By +ISM

                            
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company. Reprinted from The New York Times Sports Magazine/Play of June 2006
                                     
Wehaitians.com, the scholarly journal of democracy and human rights
More from wehaitians.com
Main / Columns / Books And Arts / Miscellaneous