The FIFA World Cup has gotten off to a frantic start, with more excitement than any other international football tournament in recent memory in the first round of matches. Individual moments of brilliance, shocking upsets, crushing victories, and high drama have all occurred. The willingness of the so-called weaker teams to advance further up the field to win the ball in opposition territory has been perhaps one of the most striking aspects of the World Cup. Before the start of the World Cup, FIFA's chief of global football development, Arsene Wenger, stated that pressing has become "absolutely universal" worldwide. Additionally, teams that have altered their strategy to force the issue off the ball when they lack the individual talent to compete on the ball have found this tactic useful.
Instead of winning the ball back in defensive areas where teams face constant attacks later, the focus is on winning the ball back in areas of the pitch where teams can threaten offensively and make use of the little possession they get. The remarkably high defensive line, which not only rattled the opposition but also caught them offside ten times, resulting in three goals being disallowed, was a key component of Saudi Arabia's shocking 2-1 victory over Argentina. A similar high press served as the foundation for Japan's second-half turnaround against Germany. Tunisia's well-earned draw with Denmark was one of the less-known outcomes because of the same risky strategy.
Iran, Costa Rica, and Serbia, three teams that chose to wait for counter-attacking opportunities alone, all suffered significant defeats. In this tournament, the majority of international teams have relied on creating opportunities from a wide range of locations rather than central channels. Both Morocco's and South Korea's strategies relied on creating overloads on the wings with their wingbacks pushing very high and isolating defenders. Canada's wingbacks were a constant threat against a lackluster Belgium. When they were able to advance their wide players and advance their forwards into the spaces, England and France appeared significantly more threatening.
Saudi Arabia, which caused the biggest statistical upset in World Cup history, also relied heavily on width. While defending the lead, their wingers also assisted their fullbacks by trailing back to create two-on-ones and leaving no space behind their defensive line for Argentina to use from wide areas. In addition, their wingers pressed higher to push the wide players of the opposition deeper.
During the buildup, teams often stick to wide areas and carefully look for opportunities to pass from one end to the other, which can be safe but boring. They have, however, added an edge to that strategy by incisively utilizing the wide areas—an increasing number of teams now play with three backs to utilize the attacking potential of their wingbacks. For many teams, wing-backs are now the most important component. In addition, it will be fascinating to observe how others respond defensively to this after studying each other's first games. In the first round, top teams like Argentina and Germany weren't the only ones who were off the pace. Belgium beat Canada 1-0, but they were unquestionably the worse team. Uruguay didn't make much of a difference in their 0-0 draw with South Korea. Portugal defeated Ghana, the tournament's lowest-ranked team, 3-2, thanks to a questionable penalty and some lucky luck in the final minutes. Morocco beat Croatia, the 2018 champion, 0-0.
After a strenuous start to the season, teams traveling to Qatar for the first winter World Cup are exhausted. Injuries and exhaustion both have an impact on nations where the majority of their players compete in Europe's top leagues. Due to their inability to establish play patterns together, these teams also had less than a week to train together and prepare for the World Cup.
On the other hand, the majority of Asian nations have been together for approximately three to four weeks before the beginning of the tournament. In October, leagues in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iran all came to an end. England won 6-2 and Spain won 7-0, the big teams that got it right so far; France and Brazil won 4-1 and 2-0, but they could have scored a lot more. In the subsequent games, anticipate the usual suspects, particularly Argentina and Germany, who both generated chances and had above-average xG and other favorable statistics.
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