"...and one brilliant coach beat eleven excellent players. When you play under such a great manager, we play a totally different game." ...Andrei Arshavin.
Russia 3 Holland 1.
Remember that score people.
Brilliant tactically! That is the only thing that needs to be said of yesterday's game. Gus Hiddink once again proves that having 11 great performers is only one side of the story, the other is the tactics. For me tactics/strategy is not to win games but to bring together the strengths of 11 great players into synergy. When this is done, winning takes place naturally.
Holland will rue this day. It will assemble another great team for another go at another major trophy but I don't think they will do any better than this time. Holland loves her self too much. She loves her total football just too fanatically that she often fails to understand that such strengths do not work on all opponents.
Total football is a tactic whereby when a player moves out of his position, another takes over that position and consequently the structure of the team on-field is kept intact. This is a fluid system whereby no player (except the keeper) has a fixed outfield role. Adaptability and flexibility is the name of the game. First invented by Jack Reynolds of the famous Ajax Amsterdam team and later refined by Rinus Michels also of Ajax it became synonymous with the great Dutch teams of 70s,80s and 90s. . Johan Cruyff later brought it to Barcelona.
Total Football (Totaalvoetbal, in Dutch) works well: only when your opponents gives you space. If your opponent closes you down and chases every ball and every pass and every throw, you had it. Russia did exactly that. Every team that has defeated Holland while using this system has done that. Of course for a team to counter that, it must have a tremendous amount of energy which the Russians had. Thanks partly to Andrei Arshavin's suspension for the first 2 games. He, as the live-wire of the team had that extra contribution to make. Hiddink, him self a Dutch with strategic acumen second to none capitalized on it. In fact his controversial decision back in Russia to include Arshavin in the team has paid off handsomely.
Marco van Basten will helm Ajax next season. Another Dutch team will be formed and once again the bulk of that team will come from Ajax. Long live Totaalvoetbal....although you may never win anything.
Russia will be waiting for either Spain or Italy.
I will bet on Russia to go all the way.
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