It was an interesting comparison of styles between two countries, Spain and Holland. The Dutch won 5-1 this morning. Spain and Holland, are the two national methodologies that are most integral in determining contemporary coach education in Australia.

Spain, like Barca, often tried the short passing , working in neat, small triangles, to build up from defence to attack. They deployed the 1-4-3-3 with the defensive midfield triangle and used a target man, Diego Costa, at the apex of the attack.

The Dutch, used a 3-5-2 under Van Gaal. This also manifested as a 1-4-3-3, or 3-4-3, when Schneider pushed up in a forward line with Van Persie and Robben, albeit this 1-4-3-3 was the 3:1 back four, or diamond shaped quartet in midfield if termed a 3-4-3.

The Dutch played out, apart from their keeper, who constantly cleared the ball (probably under Van Gaal's instructions), rather than play it out at every opportunity, like Matt Ryan likes to do.

What they didn't do, like Spain, was always choose the closest, easiest option to pass a diagonal ball to, in build ups. They often went for the the riskier, further forwards player, trying to create passing penetration through a more direct approach. Although the Dutch field players always played the ball diagonally for the receiving player to have an effective body shape to play forwards when receiving the ball. I wondered why the Dutch kept playing longer diagonal aerial balls, until that wonder, headed goal by RVP from Blind's cross.=d>

Spain's build ups were slower, often playing sideways and backwards , more patiently, waiting for the right time to play forward diagonal passes and showed more technical skill.

Holland, on the other hand, like the Madrids did to Barca in La Liga, effected accelerated attacks in the Attacking Transitions. Spain were not too good when they had to turn and chase, running towards their own goal. Conversely, Holland' s back four, De Jong, Vraal, and the other boys, were outstanding off the ball in BPO, and did a lot of graft, winning a lot of hard balls. Their organisation and cohesion was exemplary. This has often not been a strength of many Dutch teams in the past. most of them play in the Eredivisie too - they are not playing in the five big Euro leagues. They negated the muscular, physicality of Costa.

I thought the football on show in this game was fantastic, from both teams at times, easily the best in the comp so far. I watched a bit of Mexico/Cameroon and Brazil/Croatia. It was a different game, played at a much lower standard.

After Australia, Spain and Holland, are my two favourite teams. It seems ridiculous having both of these football powerhouses playing in the same group.](*,) They should be meeting much further on in the competition. I think both qualified easily for Brazil, so I cannot work out why Holland were not one of eight seeded teams?

Having the previous two World Cup finalists from South Africa, plus the third ranked South American team, Chile, in a group of four, seems ludicrous. A cogent argument can be mounted that these three may even be in the top eight teams in the tournament, along with Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Belgium and Germany. The latter quintet of quality teams, must be thrilled that this trio are all in the same group, avoiding having to play them in the early rounds.






Edited by Decentric: 14/6/2014 06:41:22 PM

Edited by Decentric: 14/6/2014 06:42:44 PM