Five Tactical Trends Emerging at the World Cup

The beauty of the World Cup is the variety of unique styles and players competing against each other on the biggest stage.

Sometimes this poses unusual tactical challenges that require on-the-fly solutions.

Alternatively, with the popularity and influence of the Premier League and Champions League, we also see nations borrow ideas from club football when the World Cup comes around every four years.

Twelve games in and common patterns, trends and match-ups are already emerging. Here are five that have stood out so far.

Football tactics are continually being developed and analysed in an increasingly detailed manner so it is interesting, and fun, to see the 4-4-2 become so commonly used at this World Cup.

Premier League football of the early 2000s was typified by the 4-4-2 formation. Spaces between players were bigger with fewer low blocks and less drilled high presses seen.

This led to more time and space for attackers to express themselves.

Teams, perhaps due to conditions and lack of coaching time, have reverted to using a 4-4-2 that looks similar, in part explaining why games feel more open.

Many teams are opting for such a shape out of possession including Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Brazil, Haiti, Scotland and Japan, at times.

In their 4-4-2, teams are picking moments in which to step up and press but for large parts of the game are choosing instead to defend in a mid-block – rather than defending deep or pressing high consistently.

If international sides opt to simply sit in and defend deep, they are ultimately conceding a level of control on the game.

Especially against bigger nations, allowing them long spells of attacking possession around your box essentially gives them the sort of game they would want to play.

Pressing intensely all game becomes less effective given the gruelling heat and humidity but in moments has provided fruitful for teams such as Mexico, Morocco and Germany, who have all scored soon after forcing an opposition turnover.

This then leaves teams defending in the middle of the pitch in a 4-4-2 shape.

The formation provides cover in a wide and balanced manner but it does leave spaces between the lines that teams have managed to exploit well via our next trend.

In a 4-4-2 shape, the defending side are well placed to stop forward and sideways movements because of their two flat lines of four.

As a result, attacking diagonally is a trend we have seen more of this tournament.

Playing at these angles has helped teams move from wide positions into more dangerous central positions playing behind the midfield.

For teams orientated in a flat line, covering these angles is more difficult.

Let's take Morocco's goal against Brazil as an example. Noussair Mazraoui was able to find his attacking midfielder with a diagonal pass from out to in – from a wide area into more central area - something he had done well numerous times before the goal.

Brazil, who spent most of the game in a 4-2-4 shape, fielded a midfield duo of Casemiro and Bruno Guimaraes in the first half who were often pulled towards the ball as their side looked to press Morocco.

This opened up space on the far-side. Brazil's two-man midfield lacked the horizontal coverage a midfield three might have.

A trend we saw for the most successful club sides this season was the use of roaming strikers. Harry Kane and Ousmane Dembele helped Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain get much joy in possession by leaving natural striker positions.

On the international stage, Spain have historically found joy using midfielders as false nines rather than traditional strikers.

By flooding their team with technical midfielders, teams struggled to get the ball off them.

With teams increasingly adopting man-to-man marking as a defensive approach at club level and in the World Cup, allowing a striker to move into unusually deep and wide positions poses a difficult dilemma for the defensive team.

If centre-backs follow them into deep midfield or to the wing, space opens up in the middle of their defence.

If centre-backs leave them, uncomfortable to be pulled too far away from their back line, the technical strikers give their side an overload in an area of the pitch - helping their side keep the ball and create dangerous attacks.

Saibari of Morocco, Kai Havertz of Germany, and Raul Jimenez of Mexico all did this to a certain extent. Kane and Dembele are likely to do similar jobs for the nation as they did so effectively at club level.

Lastly, it would not make sense to talk about tactical trends without mentioning set-plays.

Premier League football was defined by the upturn in goals from set-pieces and it is a tactic teams have used successful in the opening few games.

Czech Republic scored from a long throw, Bosnia scored from a corner as did Germany, while the Netherlands and Tunisia scored with follow-up crosses soon after set-plays.

Some of the tactics used have been borrowed from club football.

South Korea largely defended the long throw in a zonal manner. Czech Republic placed three players deeper who could make runs into more attacking positions to win headers with momentum while leaving players positioned closer to goal who were man-marked.

These man-marked players were able to impair the movement of the South Korean defenders but given the stricter refereeing on grappling in the box, we have not seen teams crowd the six-yard box much.

This more subtle blocking is best seen at the near-post.

The forward movement of the Czech Republic player prevents the defender from getting back towards where the ball lands.