In the 2008 UEFA European Championship, Spain grabbed the world’s attention with their free-flowing possession-based game, Tiki-Taka. The way Spain moved the ball on the pitch and dominated possession was a thing of beauty as La Roja connected a series of endless passes until they cracked an opening in the opposing defense for a chance at goal.
Robben’s one man counterattack leaves Casillas in shellshock, marking the rise of counterattack soccer and the demise of Tiki-taka and other variations of possession soccer styles.
However, by 2010 everyone was mighty sick of the possession game and saw how such style could drag the game on for so long. Possession soccer has a very slow build up, where teams would make 40+ passes until they take a shot at goal. It hardly scores many goals and when it does, it appears far too subtle. No flash, no adrenaline, no excitement. No one cares how “artful” possession soccer was. It was so boring, that everyone had one thing on their mind. Possession must die.
Then in the 2014 World Cup, the world saw possession-based teams get killed off one by one by a simple strategy, counter attack.
Netherlands 5-1 thrashing over Spain sparked a revolution as other possession-based teams like Italy, Japan, Bosnia, Croatia, and England were ousted early from the World Cup because of the way too simple counterattack. The shocking rise of Costa Rica and the super dominance of the Falcao-less Columbia national team can be attributed to the simple counterattack strategy. Thanks to the counterattack, World Cup fans have been treated to a thrill ride of fast-paced soccer and a glut of 136 goals total thus far.
Jackson Martinez’s goal off Columbia’s counterattack sent the Japanese packing in their final group stage match in the World Cup.
After forcing a turnover against the Spanish, Chile’s players advanced forward and spread out to give each other space to operate and score the opening goal in a matter of 5 seconds.
After Ecuador saw a shot stopped in the dying seconds of the match, Switzerland did not hesitate to push the ball forward and ignite the counterattack. The result a was beautiful goal that sealed the victory for the Swiss side.
After forcing Croatia to turn the ball over, Mexico did not hesitate to press forward. Meanwhile midfielder Andres Guardado streaked across the pitch in full sprint, providing Mexico an open option at goal in a matter of two passes.
With a world class talent like Arjen Robben, the Dutch only needed two players to run the counterattack.
So why is counterattacking soccer dominating this world cup? First lets look into the prevalent style of the previous era, possession soccer.
Possession football follows the simple philosophy that the best defense and offense is to hold the ball. With good chemistry, field awareness, and sharp passing, a team can dominate possession. A possession-based side like Spain would string passes endlessly as players slowly progress the ball up to the offensive half. The players’ positions are interchangeable, as long as the team is keeping possession of the ball (hence the name possession football).
As that happens, the entire team would move up the pitch and contribute to the game of keep-a-way, passing the ball around to their teammates and leaving defenses flustered in trying to win the ball. Such strategy requires a tremendous amount of trust in teammates and a telepathic awareness as to where your teammates will go.
So how did counterattacking soccer dismantle possession-based soccer? The concept is simple. Counterattacking is all about playing with high pressure, pace and numbers. Counterattacking would require a team to put all their chips forward off a turnover or intercepted pass. When facing the counterattack, the margin of error for opponents playing the possession game shrinks dramatically since they cannot afford to misplay or turnover the ball. Once the counter attacking team forces a turnover or cuts off a pass, the players immediately push forward and spread out like shotgun pellets. Outnumbering the defenders moving forward, the counterattacking team makes direct passes to open teammates who will find the back of the net in less than 10 seconds.
Counterattacking soccer is not artistic due to it’s simplistic nature and doesn’t necessarily require a world class talent (as long as they have pace, they’ll suffice). Soccer purists can lambast the 2014 FIFA World Cup for its lack of artistic soccer, but who gives a rat’s rear end about art if it’s not producing what the fans want, goals! Unlike the 2010 World Cup where the dominance of possession style soccer resulted in 145 goals, the 2014 World Cup has produced 136 from the group stages alone! To hell with artfulness, counterattacking soccer has helped the beautiful game live up to its name.
On sobering note, the era of counterattacking soccer won’t last that long. Firstly, it seems most applicable to the international stage where national teams cannot match the cohesiveness of club teams and need a fail-safe strategy to find the back of the net. While most national teams will make the counterattack a prevalent part of their game and create derivations of this strategy, it’s inevitable that a defensive-minded team will eventually stifle this simple game plan and push the game to a slower tempo. But that’s a different argument that’ll be saved for the 2016 Euros. For now lets enjoy the more goals to come in the knockout rounds of the World Cup.