Lessons from World Cup 2006

Now that the World Cup is over, we can turn our eyes back to the game in our own backyard. With a new coach for the national team, it feels like a new chapter has begun in Indian football and we hope it will be a joyous chapter for the nation.

Before leaving for Vancouver, Bob Houghton, the India coach made a few observations that I would like to talk about in greater detail.

1. Physical Fitness
Bob is clearly going to emphasize physical fitness. "The boys have worked hard. It is a talented group and we need to improve in the area of fitness." is what he had to say after the end of his first training session with the players.

In the World Cup 2006, a total of 345 yellow cards and 28 red cards were handed out. Across 64 games that translates into 5.4 yellow cards a game and 0.44 red card a game. A total of 2,349 fouls were committed in 64 games giving an average of almost 37 fouls per game.

To my mind this clearly points to three things:

A. Physical Aspect - The need to have strong players, both in the playing eleven and on the bench, so that a team can withstand the physical toll that these tackles and challenges are bound to take. We need players that can take these tackles, get up and then carry on playing as if nothing happened.

B. Mental Aspect - Each foul conceded is an opportunity for the opposition to re-group itself as they gain ball possession. Each yellow card is a golden opportunity for the opposition to tempt that player into a further indiscretion. Each yellow carded player becomes a little bit cautionary thus handing over the mental edge to the player he is marking. Players must also learn how to shut out insults (and other distractions) from their opponents, given how Zidane fell to this old trick in the book.

Both A and B above can be handled by playing a clean game. And playing a clean game suits India as, its players and the player outlook has traditionally been on the soft side. One only has to look at the Indian cricket team to realize the decades it took for it develop a spine in this regard.
In fact, what India should focus on is the third aspect stemming from the high number of fouls and yellow and red cards; the set pieces.
Each foul is a set piece opportunity where the team can practice and hone its execution of options until the cows come home. I feel Bob Houghton knows this as the set pieces are something he stressed upon in his press conference.

2. Set Pieces

Bob Houghton had this to say on set pieces at the press conference in Delhi on July 15, 2006. "These days, set play is an important factor and we need to introduce couple of bigger players. A huge number of goals are being scored from set play and it is important to have presence in front of the goalmouth."

A total of 147 goals were scored in the 64 games of the FIFA World Cup which works out at an average of 2.29 goals per game. Set pieces contributed 74 of the 147 goals, that is about half of all goals. Set pieces here includes penalty kicks hence the high number, excluding penalty kicks, set pieces contributed 41 goals or 28% of all goals. 33 goals (22% of all goals) resulted from penalty kicks, 23 (16%) from free kicks, 16 (11%) from corner kicks and 2 from a throw in.

I think Bob is partly correct on this count. The advantage of set pieces lies in the fact that when a team has possession, they can create a set piece situation at will. By this I mean, using set strategies to score a field goal can be considered a set piece as well. Say for example a team practices a one-two pass, or build a screen so that a long range attempt can be attempted, or develop indirect corner kick and free kick strategies and become an expert at this. Once this team has ball possession, they can repeatedly try this tactic which they have perfected in practice when they have ball possession, they do not have to wait until a corner kick or a free kick is awarded.
For a team like India, that is likely to come out second in the physical challenge for the ball, these kind of set pieces what they should practice day and night.

3. Long Ball versus Short Ball

Mercifully, Bob clarified that he is not a fan of the long ball in a follow up press interview before departing to Vancouver with the team. This is a tactic that has died some time ago.

Bob has acknowledged the short height of the Indian players as a drawback and when you consider that most teams these days play with a 4 man defence, it will be impossible for India to score via headers. Headers accounted only 18% of all goals scored in the World Cup where apart from the Asian teams, other teams did not suffer from a lack of height.

A Technical Study Group (TSG) member Andy Roxburgh noted, 28 out of the 32 teams in the FIFA World Cup 2006 used a four-man defence. Only two of the four teams that went with three defenders at the back advanced to the Round of 16, with none of those progressing to the quarterfinals.
67 of the 147 goals came from an assist from another player. This fact must be drilled into the minds of the Indian team, a team must use all its players and options on hand to make maximum impact.

Shorter passes or assists are what has driven the game forward as evidenced by the fact that when attacking, short passes outnumbered long passes by 3.3 to 1.
Shorter passes are also more likely to be accurate and worthwhile assists. Out of a total of 716 shots taken in the World Cup 2006, 342 were on target (i.e. Goal). That is a decent 48%. With a 4 man defence, each opportunity must be made to count and ideally the 48% number should be much higher. Target practice is what the Indians also need to practice. At the end of the day, the team that scores more goals wins and teams that have players that can score from all angles is more likely to win than a one-dimensional team.

4. Taller Players

Bob has clearly expressed his desire to see taller players and his surprise at how small the Indian players were when he first saw them at the Goa training camp has been reported in the press.

We admire Bob's candidness in pointing this out and he is not alone when he points this out. Zico, who has quit as the coach of the Japanese national squad has said the same thing. Zico has gone on record to say that the Japanese will have to watch out for the Australians who have joined the Asian Football Confederation and the Chinese and other teams from the ex-Soviet Republics as they are all taller than the Japanese and this threatens to undo the progress that Japan has made in soccer in the past decade. Zico pointed to the fall in the Japanese volleyball team as a case in point where taller players from other countries had caused its downfall.

Only 27 of the 147 goals were scored from a header, thus it is not all over for a team that is short but having taller players is bound to help in defensive situations when a defender can out jump an opponent.

Bob Houghton has said that he will criss-cross India to find some new, young and tall talent. Our hope is that he is assisted by the powers that be in this regard. Finding young, tall and talented players in a nation of billion people should not be that hard.

By being open, focusing on youth and agreeing to open up dialog with club coaches, Bob Houghton has made all the right moves as India's new coach. What he needs now is some time and the discovery of some new talent that he and others can hone.

I wish him the very best!