How to Watch the World Cup, part 2
So you don't know how to watch soccer, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup starts in one week. Let's try to change that.
You can find part 1 HERE.
So, let's delve a little deeper into soccer. Now that we've covered the basics of how to watch soccer and how to interpret formations, we can take a look at three slightly more advanced concepts of the sport.
The third man
No, this is not about the 1949 Orson Welles film classic, this is a tactical concept in soccer. In any play, if you will, you have two participating players. One passing the ball and one receiving the ball. In a "third man" play, the ball end up at the feet of a third player, who has made a movement independent of the first pass.
The third man, as explained in numbers of passing by Line-up builder.
This type of play is very useful in situations where there are defenders between you and the person you want to give the ball to. Let's imagine that there is a defending player between players 1 and 3 in this image. The pass is impossible, so instead the ball is played to player number 2, who finds the third man, number 3.
A variation that has become popular in recent years, particularly in teams that counterattack or transition from defence to attack rapidly, is to play the ball into number 2, who plays it backwards to number 1, who then finds a direct pass to the striker further forward. Often called a "wall pass" because of the way the ball moves forward before coming back, this play can be executed at great speed with one-touch passing, and can often catch defenders off guard.
Space
In order to do anything or go anywhere with the ball in soccer, you need to have space around you, giving you time to see what your options are, decide what to do, and execute the play. It goes without saying that it would be nigh impossible to get anything done if every player walked around with an opposing player within one metre of them.
Is the solution, then, to run away from the opposing player marking you? Yes, sometimes. Of course that is the simplest way to create space for oneself. While this is basic enough that it doesn't need further explaining here, there are right and wrong ways to go about that too.
Instead, let's talk about moving around the pitch in order to create space for your teammates. If you follow our advice from part 1 of this article about paying attention to one specific player at a time, you will eventually notice this, especially in dynamic teams with great technical players, like Spain and France.
Defenders have a natural inclination to stay close to attacking players to keep them under control. An attacker moving from the wide part of the pitch into the central area, will result in one of two outcomes:
- The wider defender follows the player into the central area. This leaves a gap, or space, in the part of the pitch that the defender used to occupy. If another attacking player moves into this wide space and received the ball, he will have time and space to weigh his options, leading to dangerous situations for the defence.
- The wide defender does not follow the player into the central area. This means that there is no defender marking this player, and while the central area may be congested, he should have time and space to receive a pass in a dangerous area of the pitch.
These opposite movements, where a player moves centrally and a central player drifts wide to gain space, are key to soccer. Understanding these movement patterns will greatly enhance both your viewing pleasure and understanding of the game.
Pressing
Pressing, and the concept behind it, has been very much en vogue the last decade of European soccer, and especially getting more and more attention in the mainstream the last five or six years. Pressing, at its core, is a synchronised team effort to put pressure on the opposition player that has the ball, with hopes of winning the ball back. There is, of course, a rich history to this tactical ploy, but we will overlook that for the sake of brevity.
There are three areas in which teams can choose to press, and a team will usually only prefer one of these:
- Low press (a.k.a. low block)
- Midfield press
- High press
Low block sees the team drop deep into their own half, usually placing their defenders in a line across their own 18 yard box and the midfielders 10 meters in front of them. Instead of flying around like headless chickens, they will be picky about when and where to press, and instead favour an organised and compact defence. This is more common amongst "bad" teams; teams who don't necessarily have brilliant individual players. The low block allows them to use strength in numbers to defend. Though, this is also famously implemented by Atlético Madrid, one of the best European soccer clubs.
“We didn’t want the ball because when Barcelona press and win the ball back, we lose our position – I never want to lose position on the pitch so I didn’t want us to have the ball, we gave it away.”
The midfield press places an emphasis on stopping the opposition from moving into the final third of the pitch. Teams can vary in how aggressively they try to press in the midfield. The third area of pressing is called a high press: this is where teams will use their attacking players as their first line of defence and press very high, attempting to win the ball high up the pitch. This can be effective as defenders are often slower and technically inferior, and therefore easier to win the ball from. On the other hand, this can also leave teams vulnerable to long passes bypassing the press entirely.
Pressing is a very complex topic. There are various intensities with which it can be done, different styles, and distinctive traps and triggers that can start a team's press. For a new soccer watcher, it may be helpful to focus on one team at a time. What does team X do when they lose the ball? Do they chase down the player with the ball? Do their players position themselves to stop passes going forward? Do they all drop back to defend?
Are there any topics or concepts you would like to see covered in upcoming articles? Leave us a comment below.
