The World Cup soccer tournament, the World Cup, is the largest and most watched sporting event in the world.
This is not new to you.
It has everything from everything - sports, nationalism, nationalism, love, past and present deposits between countries, meetings between East and West, between new and old, between worldviews and religions, and even a small game between football coaches and players.
The World Cup best represents the sentence of the legendary Bill Shankly, manager of Liverpool in the 60s and 70s: "Some people think that football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with this attitude. I can assure you that it is much, much more from this".
So indeed, the World Cup is much more than football, certainly in an era where the game is so advanced, tactics are perfected and coaches are becoming more and more dominant.
However, precisely in the World Cup, the tactical influence of the coaches is relatively negligible, and the quality of the game is less than what we will get in the major leagues and in the main UEFA establishments.
In the end, what matters in these tournaments is the connection between the players in a short period of time.
Momentum built many times during the tournament, and also sometimes elements of luck and the lottery.
There is a big difference between national team soccer and team soccer.
To build coordination, especially offensive, you need time to work and play together, and the vast majority of national teams don't have that.
There are a few national teams (Spain, and to a certain extent Germany) whose way of working in the junior national teams is the same and flows with the senior national team, so there we do see clear patterns of ball movement and offensive coordination at a good level regardless of the identity of the coach, but they are the exceptions that do not represent the rest.
Luis Enrique and the Spanish national team.
Natural tactics, photo: AP
For the most part, in such tournaments the percentage of goals in stationary situations is higher than in teams, because the coaches understand that their possibility to work and produce coordination and exercises in these situations is significantly higher than to produce while playing.
And despite all of the above, in every World Cup there are several games where the tactical influence of coaches is decisive and wins games, and such was the wonderful match in the quarter-finals of the tournament in Russia 2018 between Brazil and Belgium.
A classic on the lines
This game was marked from the beginning as one of the biggest that the previous World Cup had to offer.
Brazil - with Chicha on the lines, a formidable coach with a fluid charisma who advocates a very organized and responsible football, some would say European, far from the Jogo Benito of the immortal national teams of 70' and 82' - played against the Belgium of Roberto Martins, the golden generation She has come to her break in this tournament.
Martinez, who from his second game in the national team played in a formation of three brakes and in a very clear style, surprised the Brazilians in this game when he made a brilliant tactical change compared to the previous games in the tournament.
He started with Shadley in midfield as a full-back/left midfielder, instructing Hazard and Lukaku to stay up on the wings and not drop back even when Brazil attack.
Thanks to the change, he led with a double advantage at halftime.
Chicha, for his part, reacted great during the second half, made good exchanges and was very close to sending the game to overtime (1:2 to Belgium at the end).
Roberto Martinez.
An exception, photo: AFP
After the game, Martinez entered the press conference beaming with happiness, and received applause from most of the people present in the room.
He said that he knew that Belgium had to make a different tactical move because if they played against the strong Brazilians in the usual way they had played up to that match, they would be at a disadvantage.
After him Chicha entered with his entire team of assistants.
He admitted he was surprised by Belgium's moves, explained the good second-half responses, thanked his team with plenty of emotion, and promised Brazil will come back stronger and more ready at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Belgium, despite the heroic performance in the quarter-finals, was eliminated in the semi-finals against the designated champion France and subsequently faded away.
She will arrive at the current World Cup when her golden generation is far from its peak, and her coach has not been able in the four years that have passed since that game to find solutions or change a formation that would suit the different player material available to him at this point in time.
Brazil, on the other hand, arrives in Qatar stronger than ever, and as the number one candidate to lift the trophy after 20 years of drought.
Chicha continued on his way, and also made adjustments to the maturation and changes his stars went through.
Neymar gets a freer role, with almost no defensive commitment, with the striker in front of him doing the defensive work for him as well.
At his disposal again are two super goalkeepers, great brakes and a rear link at the highest level available.
The Brazil team in the 2018 World Cup. Will you make amends in Qatar?, Photo: AP
We are all waiting for football
The upcoming World Cup is going to be fascinating both in terms of football, and also in terms of the audience and the organization.
This is the first tournament that takes place in the winter, when the players reach their peak physically and are not worn out after a long season, but on the other hand, the national team coaches do not have time for training camps and preparatory games, and the gathering time before the tournament will be extremely short.
A different and interesting experience is also expected for the fans.
A small country, which should host hundreds of thousands of fans (more than the number of residents of the country) and provide a stage for the big show on and off the field.
So there are concerns and there are expectations (and there are also protests along the way), but on November 20 at 18:00 Israel time, when the referee blows the opening whistle for the match between Qatar and Ecuador, everything will move aside and football will start talking, and in the end that's what we're all waiting for.
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