When two great teams from different sides of the world get together for a match, it’s exciting and intriguing to watch the tactics of both sides. Where one team may have a smart defence, the other may operate using aggressive attack.
The varying techniques portrayed by numerous teams throughout the world serve only to highlight even further what a complex and impressive skill-based game football really is.
Football in South America: A Focus on Sportsmanship and Fair Play
South America regards football as its most popular amateur sport and was introduced during the 19th Century, according to Britannica. Football promoted an ideal of good health and grew in popularity during the years following its introduction to South America.
Playing by the rules and playing fairly was regarded very highly during any football match, and this took precedence over aggression or a significant fighting spirit.
While South America at first embraced and adopted a British style of play, it evolved to use new formations and methods, highly influenced by Brazilian strategy.
Football in Britain: Fast-Paced and No Nonsense
As any British football fan will know, the British style of play is very quick, direct and to the point. Britain’s style of play was initially adopted by many countries and influenced its development overseas.
British football attacks are usually set up to cover long distances, such as a kick aimed to bypass the midfielders altogether.
British players tend to focus on quick passes and quick movements to achieve their goal.
The success of British football (and indeed, around the world) has meant that match and sports betting has become very popular; you can head to the Unibet sports betting page to find the latest information on games and live updates.
Football in Italy: Crafty and Skilled
Italian players can be hard to anticipate by an opposing team. That’s because Italian players use a varying pace and tempo in all their movements and attacks to keep the opposite team on their toes.
An Italian football strategy that is explained in more detail on Outside of the Boot, often involves holding back on the number of players they like to offer in a forward attack.
Those who are playing forward can usually be seen making diagonal and swerving runs which are difficult for the defenders of the opposing team to anticipate and, therefore, difficult for them to mark.
When defending, Italian footballers do what they can to slow down attacks from the opposition, which usually includes an overwhelming number of defenders in one area of the field.
Football in Northern Europe: Aggressive Attacks and Good Organisation
Northern European players are very quick and very organised. These footballers don’t try and be coy or crafty; they are direct and aggressive with their style.
These players are drilled beforehand in their individual roles, and never stray from them or turn to improvisation – they know what they need to do beforehand, and stick to it. They try and remain in full formation where possible.
Those players in attack mode will normally try and maintain possession of the ball or else intimidate using numbers.