At the beginning of the games, a “football world map” was presented, which was built from the data of the qualifying matches. The purpose was to illustrate the differences in the way the competition teams play, and not to measure superiority. On the map, the world is divided into five continents, which are surrounded by sea areas.
Read more: An exceptionally colorful view of the football world map! Why did the reigning champion end up alone in the desert and Spain in Beckham’s palace?
The Control Coast has teams that rely on ball control, while the Chaos Coast suggests a more straightforward approach. The countries located in the ocean of high pressure defend more actively, while in the ocean of the Low block, their names are closer to the teams defending their own goal.
The map has been inspired About The Athleticin (you are moving to another service) The Five Kingdoms of Football. In order to make the story, the author of the Athletic story has been contacted John Muller.
Let’s examine the map a little more closely and find out how many changes have taken place during the Games so far.
The main image of the story is the “new world map”. Below you can see how the new version of the world map was presented on ‘s broadcast on Friday. Below you can also see what the World Map looked like before the World Cup.
– Yes, changes have been seen, directness and more passive defending were seen by several teams in the qualifiers. Qatar and South Korea moved a lot, as expected, because the World Cup games are at a very different level than the qualifiers, Miika Nuutinen explains about the changes compared to the previous map.
– On the other hand, a large part of the teams stayed in the same continent and a few also almost exactly in the same place. These included the quarter-final teams Brazil, Portugal, Croatia and France.
The home of total football
As we remember from last time, very strong ball control and pressing are emphasized in this continent. Defensive actions usually take place high up. Although the continent is not the most populated, the games have also seen a well-organized high pressure from several teams.
As expected, Spain held their ground in this continent and took Ball Control to the extreme. In its matches, for example, the ball was in play for more than 65 minutes on average, while in Saudi Arabia’s matches, for example, the ball was in play for less than 50 minutes. Spain was confident that the game would not break down when they kept the ball.
– The crowd has decreased. Idealistic Luis Enrique’s Spain sunk the boots on their feet, it was on the counter and kept the ball the most. Argentina and Holland are something else in the disguise of a ball control team. They dominated games with the ball in the group stage, but for example in the quarterfinals against the United States, Holland had a little too much fun without the ball to be Holland.
Progress United Kingdom – West
At the beginning of the Games, we learn that the United Kingdom of Progress is the largest continent of the Games in terms of population, although there has been migration. Correspondingly, the continent is strongly divided into two – east and west. On the western side, the game is still approached through ball control, but the directness of play is starting to be emphasized.
In special situations, strong countries can still be found in the southern parts of the continent. An example of this is England, whose defensive special situations have been the best in the games. Maa is an interesting mix of ball control and directness anyway. England can be found at the top of the games in terms of speed of progress and directness.
– The USA made a change in shape for the Games by holding the ball more than before. Germany, on the other hand, defended at the highest level and was at the top in passes – largely thanks to having made a breakthrough Jamal Musialan. Denmark, on the other hand, was too dependent on its offensive special situations and thus ended up under international airspace.
– England is an interesting case. A lot of ball control, but the machine also has a gear for fast progress, the computer rewarded by Jordan Pickford with the transfer of the long-ball show to a more straightforward continent. At least Präss can’t be blamed for being too aggressive, as evidenced by zero yellow cards in the entire tournament.
United Kingdom of Progress – East
On the eastern side of the kingdom, gameplay becomes decidedly more straightforward. Chaos in playing increases and periods of ball control decrease. Very different countries can be included. Canada was overtaken by its own readings – thanks to, among other things by Alphonso Davies. Qatar’s competition sky was difficult and they were the worst organizing country in the history of the competition with their points balance. Creating scoring opportunities was difficult for Qatar, and this is partially explained by the fact that the shots went the farthest of all the teams.
Cameroon excelled as one of the toughest opponents of the Games. Mexico also changed their defense from the qualifiers and were significantly more active in it – they gave the opponent the fewest passes towards their own defensive play.
– Canada’s fast-paced football made an impression despite the meager points balance and deserved to stay at the foot of Bahia de Bielsa. The African countries were still not distributed over a very large area, so the myth of the African way of playing has to be swallowed up at this point.
– Hervé Renard Saudi Arabia was one of the stimulants of the Games, a super high line, long openings and the least amount of ball in the game. Almost five yellow cards per game takes the position towards the borders of the rules.
Vertical states
The vertical countries increased their population from the beginning of the games. We remember that on this continent, chaos is the main thing. The ball changes hands a lot and is also out of the game a lot. The number of failures also starts to increase. In general, feed lengths are longer than in other continents.
Morocco has been at the forefront especially when it comes to aggressive defensive moves. Their defense block is by no means passive, but the opponent has to do a full day’s work in destabilizing it. An interesting lift falls on Ghana, who during the Games did not manage to get a single pass within 20 meters of the opponent’s goal.
– Got more residents when more teams tried to shake the giants through long balls. Ecuador and Ghana try to destabilize their bigger ones with a press, Japan, Australia and Morocco again with a lower block. The latter were more successful this time.
Fortifications of Catenaccio
Costa Rica took over this continent. Again, when we remember the beginning of the games, in this continent, ball control and pressing are smaller than in any other continent. On the other hand, chaos, straightforwardness and the utilization of special situations are emphasized. In this continent, you can find the countries whose goals scored in special situations are relatively higher.
– The name can be changed to Fortresses of Costa Rica for the next games. This time, their defensive block did not bring a further place – their players were the target of passes by the largest number of teams in the competition.
No mans land
The continent is also among those that increased its population. In this continent, all gauges are relatively low. The countries do not press much and advance balancing directness and ball control.
– Maybe others have done their homework on the rules of tournament football when France got a team in the desert. The sinking island of Belgium sank completely, so what was left of the team made it to safety on the mainland.
– Poland excelled in special defensive situations, that’s why it can be found in a cemetery named after dead ball situations. Switzerland, on the other hand, created the fewest counterattacks and passes, but shot from the most likely positions”
– France continues with its own line to the extent that it is not interested in getting the ball back after losing it, the number of counter-presses was the lowest in the entire group stage.
Semi-final teams
The semi-final teams represent four different continents, so no direct conclusions can be drawn about which method would be the most effective in tournament football. It’s also good to note that in the early rounds of the tournament, the level differences between the countries could be big. Due to this, a country could play in a forced way differently than its own strengths necessarily direct it to act in the playoffs.
Different ways of playing and building match plans have produced results. Especially when you take into account the fact that the teams had a particularly short time to prepare for the tournament. We will be watching with interest to see which continent will find the champion of the tournament.
– The remaining countries are – maybe with the exception of Morocco and France – stylistically quite similar, although there are of course many differences in the organization of the game. The extremes have been eliminated, the most notable of course being Germany and Spain, which of all the teams imitated club football the most under the leadership of coaches with merit in that field. It would seem that the championship is celebrated with a modern combination of different levels of pressing, ball control and counter-attacks.