The 2010 FIFA World Cup might've finished more than two weeks ago, but when the biggest sporting event in the world only happens once every four years it seems a waste to simply consign it to the past the moment it ends. With a month of drama, 64 matches to scrutinise and 736 players to look at the tournament really does represent in a shift in the footballing landscape. It acts as a summary of all football that has past in the four years previous, and defines the way in which the next four years will play out.
Through my desperate efforts to cling to the tournament and allow it to extend beyond the July 11 finale, I managed to stumble upon FIFA's official match document archive for the tournament. Beyond the standard start-lists and statistics for each match, perhaps the most intriguing series of documents for me are the analyses of team tactical line-ups, 'actual' formations, player 'heat maps' and passing distribution for each side in each game.
These documents give a massive insight into the ways in which coaches at the World Cup had their teams of elite (or not so elite, in some cases) players attempting to play the game. From why Schweinsteiger and Khedira found it so easy to nullify Argentina in the quarter finals to how Kennedy's presence against Serbia encouraged Australia to play with more width, there is a massive amount of insight to be gained from these reports.
Think of me what you will, but I can admit to having spent more than a few hours looking over these documents and piecing together the finer details of how the World Cup unfolded. I encourage all fans of the world game to at least have a look at what is on offer. At the very least, it'll make you realise that Craig Foster *does* know his stuff when it comes to the game (it's still ok to not like him; just don't claim he doesn't know what he's talking about).
For the average fan, I think these documents offer a decent chance to get a better idea about how professional footballers are playing the modern game and why tactics matter rather than merely the quality of players on the pitch. For those still not convinced, you really need to read Jonathan Wilson's wonderful book Inverting the Pyramid: the History of Football Tactics. For a professional football coach, however, these documents should become almost compulsory reading and could realistically form the basis for how they go about doing their job. Hence I ask the question- has David Mitchell or anyone within his staff read them or even noted their existence?
A Perth Perspective
One thing that the technical analysis of the FIFA World Cup has shown is that 4-4-2 is dying if not already dead. Few teams employed the formation in South Africa. Even fewer did so successfully. It should be noted that the one team that did use the formation with any notable success- Uruguay- did so playing a striker on the left wing position and lost when this player was suspended for the semi-final. Why, then, must Perth Glory fans have to continue seeing our team playing this system?
Perth has the versatility to play the fashionable 4-2-3-1 formation. McGarry, Sterjovski and Sikora are all attack-minded midfielders capable of giving the support that Robbie Fowler as a lone forward would need. Naum Sekulovski and either Scott Neville or Jamie Coyne are perfect wing-backs to ensure width is maintained in attack because they're all prepared to get forward regularly. Jacob Burns is perhaps the best defensive midfield lock in the league allowing Pellegrino or perhaps Andy Todd to fill the defensive playmaker role.
We have the right players to fit 4-2-3-1, but unfortunately we have the wrong coach. Mitchell has so far in his coaching career shown an inability to even acknowledge that a team should line up with any formation other than, as Mike Bassett would say, "Four-four-****ing-two." While it might seem disloyal of me to be arguing against the formation that gave the website for which I write its name, I think the attitude shown by Mitchell is unacceptable for a professional coach.
David Mitchell deserves a lot of credit for what he's done with Perth Glory during his tenure. Before him we had Fa'arodo, Robinson and Jamie Coyne. Now we have Fowler, Sterjovski... and Jamie Coyne. We've gone from perennial wooden spoon challengers to 2010 finalists and can realistically hope for a grand final this season. That hope might be just a little stronger though if Mitch could only acknowledge the difference between his tactical preference and that which the best teams at the World Cup put on display.
