Soccer has been on a steady rise throughout the world since its advent in England, and since then the game has evolved becoming one of the best, finest, and most popular sports in the world.
Although it comes with its challenges the love for the sport among football enthusiasts and footballers never nosedives, as it also comes with a lot of thrills and happy moments and I dare to say nothing else comes close to the sport ‘of soccer’ in terms of its popularity.
Since the spread of the game got to all of European countries, and other countries worldwide they took it as a sport they appreciated, without wasting time so many of these countries did well in improving the beautiful game and also made it attractive to the world.
Total Football (Soccer) Of Netherlands
In developing and improving soccer, some of these countries came up with a style and tactics of playing the game which is embedded in their soccer style.
Countries like the Netherlands are known for their ‘Total Football‘, which emerged in the late 1960s particularly under the legendary Rinus Michels at Ajax, which also spread to other clubs like Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven, Heerennven, and the Dutch national team.
Michels adopted the system from the flexible approach played by the great Hungarian national team of the early 1950s. The system took an increasing approach to the game in which the angles of defence and attack are taken by ten outfield players to lengthen or shorten the pitch of play
The Jogo Bonito Of Brazil & Catenaccio Of Italy
The Brazilian are also known for their ‘Jogo Bonito‘, which the legendary Pele attested to and it means the ‘Beautiful Game’ which both men, women, young and old around the world nodded in satisfaction.
Likewise, the Italian is also known for their ‘Catenaccio‘ similarly known as ‘Door Bolt‘ which means or implies a highly organized and effective backline defence focused on nullifying opponents’ attacks and preventing goal-scoring opportunities, invented by an Austrian coach Karl Rapped
The system hit its full throttle in the 1950s when Nereo Rocco‘s Padova pioneered the Catenaccio in Italy, and it was also used by the Internazionale team of the early 1960s.
Rocco’s tactics were often referred to as the real Catenaccio and later went on to achieved great success with Milan using the system during the ’60s and ’70s winning several titles, including two Seria A titles, three Coppa Italia titles, two European Cup, two European Cup Winners, and an Intercontinental Cup.
Tiki-Taka
The ‘Tiki-Taka’ which is synonymous with Barcelona, the Spanish national team and La Liga can’t be talked about without mentioning the role the legendary Johan Cruyff played in bringing the tactics to Spanish football.
The roots of what developed into what many countries want to adopt in the soccer world today began to be implemented by the Dutchman during his tenure as manager of Barcelona from 1988 to 1996.
The Tiki-Taka tactics are characterized by short passing movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession even in tight corners.
Which over the last decennium has won the Euros, and World Cup for the Spanish team under the tutelage of Luis Aragones and former Real Madrid manager Vincente De Bosque and to some extent the Spanish club who played in the European tournaments like the Champions League and the Europa League critically Sevilla under Unai Emery.
As good and tantalizing the style was, when the legendary Cruyff implemented it, it was mixed with the Dutch total football which comes with the high defensive line, positional interchange, and use of possession to control the game.
Yet it doesn’t come close to the era of Pep Guardiola who is also an apostle of the style, who took the tactics to another level when he was at the helm of affairs at Camp Nou.
However, the former Bayern Munich manager distanced himself from the style stating that he detests all that passing for the sake of it, that its development and influence should go to Cruyff’s tenure as manager in the 1990’s all the way to the present.
Now, football style has moved away from the traditional thinking of formations in football to a concept derived from the zonal play with a lot of gengen-pressing.
To effectively apply the Tiki-Taka tactics, the team playing this style would need to win the ball back a lot higher up the pitch than previous tactics in soccer.
Firstly, winning the ball back close to the goal means the team must be close to its primary target which is – scoring. The tactics is achievable and will flow well when you have a high-pressing, technically superb, and quick forwards helping the team to recover the ball from the midfield.
Secondly, winning the ball back early is a preferred advantage, the team doesn’t invest a great deal of energy pursuing the opposition team when they took possession of the ball. The quicker they win the ball back the quicker they can rest.
Tiki-taka is a strategy that needs to make space as one of its center philosophical movements off the ball permitting penetration to devour an opponent’s weakness.
Continually playing in a triangle style, players would move around their opponents, creating lots of room that would help the player with the ball make a perfect decision with the ball. Staying static would permit predictability in the team’s gameplay and deny the opposition’s possession.
While having your own players moving around the man in possession, leaving the opponents with no choice but to move with you, consequently making space as well as time to assist the teammate with that ball. A basic dependable strategy, yet a significant one all the same.
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It’s a regular tradition in Tiki-Taka tactics to know about the ‘6-second’ rule. This style is that the ball should be recovered within 6 seconds of losing the ball to the opponent.
The purpose behind this is during the initial 6 seconds, the opposition, after winning the ball back, won’t promptly change from defensive mode to possession mode, this implies that they will require a couple of seconds to adjust and prepare.
Winning the ball back at that moment of adjusted concentration is vital. The tactics still apply when the team wins the ball back.
Also, the Tiki-Taka is not meant to out muscle opponents, it’s a tactical style associated with flair, creativity and it is used to monopolize the ball and move it in intricate patterns to baffle opponents, just like it was used to baffled the likes of Real Madrid in El Clasico when Jose Mourinho and his team were massacred with a lot of aplomb.
A simple rule of thumb, but an important one all the same. You can be the best player in the country, but with the help of the players around you, you can dominate Europe. You can dominate the world.
The gengen-pressing is evident in the staggering percentage of possessions for the Catalan side, suffocating the opposition’s hopes of attacks with such high possession which their aim is to deny and put their opponents in disarray.
Pep Guardiola and his Barcelona side dominated both the La Liga and International tournaments in Europe with the talented and arguably the greatest midfield pairing of Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, who never lacked confidence and ability to both received and maneuver the ball even in tight spaces coupled with the magic of Lionel Messi.
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The good news about the style is that traditional game has now moved in a similar direction with the patterns of play drilled into the players right from the training grounds, which underpinned the International success enjoyed by the Spanish national team.
Although many football aficionados accredited the style to the making of Guardiola, then the style was ingrained into the Barcelona system a long time ago when Luis Aragones was in charge between 1987 and 1988.
Away from the Tiki-Taka style, another style that also blown the soccer world away was the ‘Schalker Kreisel or the German Kreisel’, which dates back between 1934 and 42, winning six German championships for FC Schalke 04. It was also a stunning style that also made its mark.
Tiki-taka once dominated the landscape of the footballing world with the likes of FC Barcelona, Spain, and Bayern Munich winning trophy after trophy whilst utilizing the tactic.
But following in the footsteps of analytical managers such as Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel, Julian Nagelsmann and Mourinho, counter attacking has been used as an effective ploy to stop tiki-taka-based teams not only from having success but from imposing their methodology of playing on the rest of the world.
Tiki-taka is no longer the marker for a successful team and that in large part is due to the success of counter-attacking as a triumphant method of playing against it.
Ironically the world of football still always found itself using the Tiki-Taka tactic with a lot of passing deep down from the goalkeeper to the front line, as such it’s a testament to the fact the soccer world has tilted to the great style called ‘Tiki-Taka’.
