Enter the tournament with a plan

England and Euro 2016

In more of recent years, little is expected of England when competing in major international tournaments, but they still manage to underperform. But why? Because they failed to enter Euro 2016 with a plan. Roy Hodgson was still scrambling and trying to figure out what his best XI was and as a result, he was picking players that weren’t even the best in the position they were playing, and lacked any real plan going forward. As a result, they got punished by might minnows Iceland and faced national humiliation.

Avoid functional fixedness

Functional fixedness is a common cognitive fallacy of which one or many are fixated on doing something only one way and as a result, fail to account for more efficient methods that can get the job done.

Spain

The Spanish national team from 2008–2012 will undoubtedly go down in the history books, winning 2 European Championships and 1 World Cup in that time period. However, as brilliant as their players are, their ability to change it up allowed Spain to have a tactical advantage over the opponent. In Euro 2012, Vicente del Bosque decided to implement a “4–6–0” formation with no striker, something that had seemed very foreign before. This is because the formation allows Spain to play their own game and keeping it compact, while giving the opponents little space. Furthermore, considering that Spain love keeping possession and are not really a team equipped for counter-attacking, this formation played into their hands as they would be able to outnumber the midfield of the opposing team, no matter what.

The famous “460” formation that Spain used during Euro 2016

Have full support from the players

France 2010

After Nicolas Anelka was sent home by national team manager then Raymond Domenech, Patrice Evra and others rallied their support for Nicolas Anelka and so refused to train. The players in the national team quite clearly had each other’s backs and so when Domenech decided to “attack” Anelka, the rest felt attacked as well. As a manager, having support from the players going into the world cup is critical as it can determine how motivated the players are the relationship that you have with the player. Furthermore, what this case highlights as well is that trying to have a rift with all the players or the main leaders of the team will never end well.

Italy 2017

To put it lightly, Giampiero Ventura and many players are the Italian national team are simply national embarrassments for failing to qualify for the world cup. However, Italy’s failure to qualify was not because they lacked the quality on the pitch or players were out of form, but instead because the players weren’t behind the manager. Once, Giorgio Chiellini decided to arrange a “players-only” meeting to determine the future of the national team and what they think about Ventura. Afterwards, Ventura then told the press that “he arranged the meeting”, which seems very odd for a manager to do. But, this isn’t the only time that the Italian players haven’t backed Ventura.

During Italy’s crucial second leg play-off against Sweden, experienced Italian midfielder, Daniele De Rossi, was seen refusing to come onto the pitch and pointed to Lorenzo Insigne, suggesting that they should put him on as he is an attacker. Giorgio Chiellini, Daniele De Rossi, Gianluigi Buffon, and others did not back Ventura as the manager of the Italian national team, and as a result, the results suffered on the pitch. All in all, the relationship between a manager, his staff, and his players is always crucial when going into a World Cup.

Belgium

Following Belgium’s entertaining 3–3 draw with Mexico, Kevin de Bruyne openly criticised Roberto Martínez, stating that his tactics were too defensive. Despite Belgium having one of the most talented squads in the world, they’ve seemed to somewhat underachieved in the past two international major tournaments and have failed to unlock their potential. Nonetheless, when approaching an extremely important competition like the World Cup, you really want to avoid any rift between the players. All in all, Kevin de Bruyne is arguably one of Belgium’s best players and is Martínez does not resolve this conflict, apart from his tactical flaws, than it seems unlikely that Belgium will go far in the World Cup.

Call up your best players no matter what

Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema has not been called up for Les Bleus since November 2015 due to his involvement in the sex tape scandal

Despite Benzema’s poor form at Real Madrid this season, he’s undoubtedly one of France’s best strikers at the moment, and should have been called up for Euro 2016 and maybe even this World Cup. The main reason why Karim Benzema has not been called up to the France national team is because of his involvement in helping fellow teammate Mathieu Valbuena as part of the “sextape scandal.” Nonetheless, despite the attacking talent that France has, it seems that the selectors of the France national team have continuously overlooked an incredible talent in Karim Benzema over the past few years.

His love for Algeria have brought a lot of criticism from the French media and the French people

Don’t solely rely on one player

Argentina and Lionel Messi

Despite being 2014 World Cup finalists, and reaching 2 Copa America finals in 2 years, Argentina just about qualified for the World Cup. But, they wouldn’t have qualified if it wasn’t for Lionel Messi, scoring a hat-trick. But, even though Argentina have qualified, their over-reliance on Lionel Messi is evident. His absence in international friendly against Spain was marked by a humiliating 6–1 defeat, and really is the only consistent forward for La Albiceleste. With the World Cup approaching fast, with Argentina’s over-reliance on Lionel Messi and Sampaoli’s ultra attacking football (he plays with a 3313), Argentina will find it very difficult to replicate the success of 2014.

Brazil 2014 and Neymar

When you consider that Brazil finished 4th in the 2014 World Cup, than it doesn’t seem to bad. However, when you consider that they faced a humiliating 7–1 defeat at the hands of Germany, followed by a 3–0 defeat to the Netherlands in their own backyard, than it sounds like they massively underachieved. Brazil were getting by, however they weren’t too convincing most of the time and most of their attacking threat came through Neymar. Furthermore, because Neymar was ruled out of the match against Germany, Brazil seriously struggled to create chances and to challenge the German defense. But, things are looking up as it seems for this World Cup that Brazil are far less reliant on Neymar.

Play the best team, not the best individuals

England’s golden generation

Why didn’t England go far in international tournaments despite having one of the best midfield trios in the world? Because they didn’t play a system that was based on the best team. Instead of trying to fit Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard, and Frank Lampard, former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson played Paul Scholes on the left so he could play with 2 strikers but keep his best players on the pitch. Eriksson’s inability to play the best team is ultimately what cost England the chance to go far in international tournaments, and because of that, England have very little to show in the past few years of the talent that they have produced.

France

Olivier Giroud is certainly not France’s best striker, but he is someone who fits into Deschamps’ system. Giroud’s performances for Les Bleus have seen the likes of Alexandre Lacazette and Anthony Martial dropped, and with his aerial threat, he creates space for others to run into. While he doesn’t have the technical ability of the likes of Griezmann and Pogba, he efficiency is what allows France to play a certain way, and allows players to occupy spaces in attacking areas.

Play with a solid defensive foundation