Counter attacking goals in this WC and past WCs
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 1:30 pm
The counter gets a bad rap but it is often the safest and most reliable way to score goals.
Germany destroyed Argentina 4-0 and England 4-1 in 2010 with the counter attack. Deschamps' France is heavily reliant on the counter to create space for Mbappe to release his jets or for Griezmann to deliver quality passes. They won the 2018 WC while having less than 40% possession in many of their games.
Netherlands vs USA, England vs Senegal, Argentina vs Croatia and many more in this WC, all were games won with the counter.
Obvious points:
It's easiest to score when you have space AND time.
How do you create space AND time? Not by attacking frantically. Any competent team has all the spaces covered and you will just be banging your head against the wall. Example USA against Netherlands, or Senegal against Netherlands and England, or Brazil against Croatia.
You create space and time to attack by letting the other team attack you, then when they have committed men forward, recover the ball in critical position and push forward QUICKLY. You have acres of space to work with now.
When you are pushing forward quickly, you don't need more than two forwards running into space. More than that overcomplicates the attacking move. See Brazil attacking with everybody plus the kitchen sink against Croatia, or USA attacking with the whole 82nd airborne against every team they faced in this WC, or Senegal banging their heads against the wall versus Netherlands and England. Not effective. Overcomplicates the final ball.
See Netherlands goals vs USA, England's goals vs Senegal, Croatia's equalizing goal against Brazil. When you have created space AND time, the final pass into the box doesn't have to be pinpoint accurate. The recipient has time to adjust and deliver the killer blow.
Not all counters are obvious. The most obvious ones start when you recover the ball deep in your own half, but many dangerous counter opportunities also arise when you recover the ball higher up the pitch, like Portugal did for their 2nd (and 3rd?) goals against Ghana.
As you waya
Germany destroyed Argentina 4-0 and England 4-1 in 2010 with the counter attack. Deschamps' France is heavily reliant on the counter to create space for Mbappe to release his jets or for Griezmann to deliver quality passes. They won the 2018 WC while having less than 40% possession in many of their games.
Netherlands vs USA, England vs Senegal, Argentina vs Croatia and many more in this WC, all were games won with the counter.
Obvious points:
It's easiest to score when you have space AND time.
How do you create space AND time? Not by attacking frantically. Any competent team has all the spaces covered and you will just be banging your head against the wall. Example USA against Netherlands, or Senegal against Netherlands and England, or Brazil against Croatia.
You create space and time to attack by letting the other team attack you, then when they have committed men forward, recover the ball in critical position and push forward QUICKLY. You have acres of space to work with now.
When you are pushing forward quickly, you don't need more than two forwards running into space. More than that overcomplicates the attacking move. See Brazil attacking with everybody plus the kitchen sink against Croatia, or USA attacking with the whole 82nd airborne against every team they faced in this WC, or Senegal banging their heads against the wall versus Netherlands and England. Not effective. Overcomplicates the final ball.
See Netherlands goals vs USA, England's goals vs Senegal, Croatia's equalizing goal against Brazil. When you have created space AND time, the final pass into the box doesn't have to be pinpoint accurate. The recipient has time to adjust and deliver the killer blow.
Not all counters are obvious. The most obvious ones start when you recover the ball deep in your own half, but many dangerous counter opportunities also arise when you recover the ball higher up the pitch, like Portugal did for their 2nd (and 3rd?) goals against Ghana.
As you waya