The Week India - July 29, 2018

48 THE WEEK • JULY 29, 2018

FIFA WORLD CUP

RUSSIA 2018

GLOBAL

FRATERNITY

French President

Emmanuel Macron

hugs Croatia’s

Luka Modric as

Russian President

Vladimir Putin

(left) and Croatian

President Kolinda

Grabar-Kitarovic

look on

AFP

win, rather than entertain. France

had fewer passes, a lower pass

success rate and a minority share

of possession in fi ve of their seven

games. In fact, Argentina, Belgium

and Croatia had more than 60 per

cent of the possession when they

were beaten by France. Deschamps

relied on a counterattacking game.

Th e side depended on its defenders

and the two defensive midfi elders

to deny space to attackers, while

the rest of the team were always

ready to charge at the goal at any

given time. Key to those movements

up and down the pitch were the

presence of Kante and Paul Pogba

in the middle. Alongside Kante’s

defensive performance, Pogba was

one of the most incisive midfi elders

in the tournament. Th is was literally

the perfect combo. Pogba’s maturity

at this tournament was one of the

highlights of this French side. At Euro

2016, he was impulsive and fl ashy.

One of the team’s coaching staff had

commented that his head was not in

the right place. Th is time, he showed

incredible leadership qualities. Pog-

ba was so lethal in instigating attacks

that Deschamps was praising him at

almost every news conference.

Belgium manager Roberto Mar-

tinez gained many admirers through

his tactics at the World Cup. Martinez

is a man who made his way from

lower leagues to the top of the world

on the basis of his tactical nous and

the ability to turn things in his favour

with tweaks during games. After

beating Brazil in the quarterfi nal, he

credited the players saying that there

was only so much tactics could do,

but what was important ultimately

was the execution of those plans by

the players.

But despite his claim that he has

“never lost a game on the tactics

board”, his team failed to cope with

the individual brilliance of the

French players. Belgium were one of

the more entertaining sides at this

many to win the tournament, said

the tournament taught purists that

even the World Cup is not free from

unexpected outcomes. “It will make

teams approach the tournament in

a diff erent way in the years to come.”

He was not surprised about Croatia’s

run to the fi nal, not only because

of the depth in the squad, but also

because of the easy draw they got in

the knockout rounds.

Croatian coach Zlatko Dalic is

more or less like Deschamps, who

was often denied the credit for pre-

paring the team for the tournament.

His defence may have failed him in

the fi nal, but he made his midfi elders

and forwards work together. Ivan

Perisic, Mario Mandzukic and Ante

Rebic are far from the best attackers

in the world, but under Dalic, who

gave them much freedom to roam in

the frontline, they shone. Croatia’s

historic fi nal appearance was the

story of the tournament, but their

defeat to France was perhaps refl ec-

tive of the imbalanced draw in the

knockout rounds.

As interesting as it was from the

start, the tournament lost a bit of its

World Cup. Th eir thunderous coun-

ter-attacks were a sight to behold.

But, their golden generation failed

to go all the way and it might be long

before the country gets another shot

at World Cup glory.

Viktor Gusev, one of the most

recognisable voices in Russian

sports, said in the seven World Cups

that he had been to before, nothing

came close to what was witnessed

in Russia. Th e unpredictability, the

organisation, the speed of the game,

suddenly everything looked dif-

ferent. “Th ese days, there is a lot of

insistence on technique and tactical

accuracy,” the veteran commentator

told THE WEEK. “Th e likes of Pele

and Garrincha could easily run past

defenders. When you watch videos

of old games, you wonder how the

defenders gave players so much

space. It would be almost criminal

to do such things today. Th at is why

individual performances like Ronal-

do against Spain stand out, because

these come across as superhuman

eff orts in an era where defences are

much more organised.”

Gusev, who had expected Ger-