Top 10 things needed to win the World Cup
It is finally here - South Africa 2010 sees World Cup glory dazzle alluringly in front of a collection of national team hopefuls for the 19th time. It is a feast of football but only one team can dine at the table of champions - only one team can taste the sweetest of victories. But what ingredients go into attaining the ultimate prize - what factors are preferable and what elements are at the absolute core of a winners’ journey? A Different League examines the top ten things needed to win a World Cup .
10 - Fortune
World Cup hopefuls always need a side order of luck. Avoiding injuries to high calibre players is essential - avoiding a criminal misjudgement from an obscure official is most desirable. England have cursed their bad luck at the championships - the Hand of God, the penalty misses against Germany and Portugal, Sol Campbell’s golden goal against Argentina that never was. That said, fortune favours not just the brave, but also the most mentally resilient and consistently creative of teams. Good teams make their own luck and rise above misfortune.
9 - Humility
Stay under the radar. In both 2002 and 2008, Germany were ridiculed for poor squads - yet they quietly reached the final and semi-final respectively. Recent winners France (1998) and Italy (2006) were regarded as semi-finalists at best. Notably Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque has been quick to minimise expectations of his team: “Everybody thinks that anything except winning the World Cup is a failure. I think that's nonsense.’’ England’s absence from Euro 2008 should reduce the pressure on players often weighed down by their ‘Golden Generation’ tag-line.
8 - Geographical advantage
The pride and adulation associated with hosting the World Cup tends to deliver handsome dividends also - out of the 19 previous host nations, 12 have reached at least the semi-finals and six secured ultimate victory. Also notable, no European country has ever won the World Cup outside of Europe. Second favourites Brazil have no experience of travel sickness having secured glory in Asia, North America, Central America and South America.
7 - Positive camp spirit
The legendary Gordon Banks saw team spirit as crucial to England’s World Cup success in 1966: “There was no jealousy, no big egos, we all just got along really well and we took that spirit onto the pitch.” Such sentiments have often been lost on the wasted talents of Holland - they have have had more internal collisions than atoms in the Large Hadron Collider. Disruption led by Roy Keane also seemed to put a nail in the coffin of the Republic of Ireland’s 2002 World Cup . Where there is distraction, squads must develop a siege mentality - in 2006 Italy turned a match-fixing controversy into a source of unified resilience.
6 - Momentum
Start as you mean to go on - the last six winners all won their opening game. Carlos Bilardo, who coached Argentina to victory in 1986, agrees: “It is critical to start on the right foot, because the pressure of the second game if you have lost the first one is terrible.” But do not peak too soon. In 2006 Argentina sparkled in a 6-0 group game thrashing of Serbia and Montenegro. A favourites tag was draped around their necks and they failed to maintain momentum.
5 - Formation flexibility
More traditionally English than the Queen herself, the rigid 4-4-2 has been indelible on England’s World Cup escapades. However, as Everton manager David Moyes noted: “Teams who win World Cup are ones who alter line-up and approach to overcome different opponents.”In short, managers in South Africa must have the clichéd ‘Plan B’ - the vision and the players at their disposal to adapt - to smoothly transform from a defensive 4-5-1 to an attacking 4-3-3. Strategic dexterity is a must - especially in the final rounds.
4 - Potent full-back pairing
The team with the best full-back pairing are traditionally an excellent indicator of who will win the World Cup . Frenchmen Lilian Thuram and Bixente Lizarazu ruled the roost in 1998, Samba boys Roberto Carlos and Cafu scorched the by-lines in 2002 and Italians Gianluca Zambrotta and Fabio Grosso were a formidable pairing in 2006. A hard working creative outlet from an unpredictable overlapping source appears to be a crucial weapon. This bodes well for England - the fleet footed duo of Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson are a very strong wingback pairing.
3 - Stay disciplined
Promising campaigns for England in 1998 and 2006 were both blown apart by petulant outbursts from David Beckham and Wayne Rooney respectively. It may be romantic to see ten-man England falling back on the old ‘Dunkirk spirit’ - but all too often it ends in tears. As Steven Gerrard aptly noted on Thursday: “We don't want to lose players because of discipline, it weakens the team. We can't afford it." In addition, the increasing number of dead ball specialists, endemic diving and an unpredictable new ball make the importance of discipline around the penalty area greater than ever before.
2 - Penalty precision
Germany have won four out of four World Cup shootouts and succumbed to only one penalty miss - Uli Stielike. Unfortunately England have had one too many Ulis - 7 to be precise and a miserable three penalty shoot out loses out of three. Despite being a rather circus-like manner to find a winner, registering from 12 yards is a crucial cog in a World Cup winning machine - eight of the last 14 teams making the final were required to achieve a penalty-shootout victory en-route. Calmness from 12 yards under ferocious pressure is an absolute must.
1 - Multiple scorers
Goals are the single currency in football - their fundamental function is to separate winners from losers. That much is obvious but often overlooked is the paramount importance of multiple scorers. Out of the last 18 World Cup winning teams, only three have contained the Golden Boot winner, a clear indicator that relying solely on a red-hot striker to deliver glory is misguided. Goals must come from multiple sources, a team contribution - on average World Cup winning teams have six different scorers. This factor has become increasingly poignant - in 1998, France had a whopping 10, as did the Italians in 2006.
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