Argentina 1-0 Belgium: Tactical Analysis

Gonzalo Higuain’s early goal won Argentina the game

Argentina beat Belgium with a solitary goal in the quarter final match yesterday to move to the semis. An early goal from Gonzalo Higuain sealed the tie. The game was a cagey and strategic affair with not too many moments of note. Here’s a review of the game:

Lineups

Argentina made a few changes to their line up from the previous game. Rojo, Gago and Fernandez made way for Basanta, Biglia and Demechelis. This meant that it was Basanta and Zabaleta as the full backs and Garay and Demechelis lined up in central defence. Biglia and Mascherano were the central midfielders and Lavezzi and Di Maria were stationed on the flanks while Messi partnered Higuain up front. The central midfielders would be expected to just provide cover to the defense as neither is particulary adept going forward.

It was a defensive minded 4-4-2 set up by Argentina, one which hugely depended on the abilities of Lionel Messi to beat opponents and create chances. Di Maria, Higuain, Lavezzi and Aguero haven’t done too well. So the onus was on Messi to shoulder the responsibility of the attack and deliver.

Belgium lined up with a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1. Van Butyen and captain Kompany were the central defensive duo. Vertonghen and Alderweireld occupied full back positions. Witsel and Fellaini lined up in central midfield. While in attack, De Bruyne was flanked on either side by Hazard and Mirallas. Origi started as the out and out striker at the expense of Lukaku.

Initial Exhanges

Belgium started of as the brighter of the two sides. They maintained a high line and tried to press high up the pitch to win the ball back early. Argentina were slow off the blocks. Messi and Di Maria made good runs to create half chances, but there was nothing substantial from them until the goal.

The goal on the eight minute mark set the game up. Messi twisted and turned a whole circle to pass to Di Maria, whose pass, intended for Zabaleta, fell kindly to Higuain who hit it first time, straight into the goal. It was a goal poacher’s goal that came against the run of play as Belgium controlled play until then.

Effect of the Goal

Having gotten the goal. Argetnina were quite content to allow Belgium to have the ball for longer periods. When they did get the ball, they were very patient in their build up play. They were in no hurry to commit too many forward too quick. Mascherano and Biglia always stayed deep enough to provide cover for the back four.

Virtually every attack went through Messi. They were totally dependent on his pace skills and trickery to create chances. His close control and dribbling meant that he drew more than 3 defenders towards him and in turn, created spaces for other attackers to capitalize. But as has been the case throughout the torunament, Messi’s support cast disappointed. Di Maria was given a free role, starting from the right, to move into spaces and create. But he didn’t do much. Higuain had his best game of the tournament though.

Belgium saw quite a large amount of the ball, stats say 50%. But they were slow and unimaginitive and lacked any real penetration. Fellaini and Witsel hardly offered any drive or energy from midfield. Fellaini was his usual slow, clumsy and confused self. He offered neither defensive solidarity nor offensive penetration. Witsel was marginally better. He was useful on the ball and decent in defense, a solid performance.

De Bruyne and Hazard had the responsibility to create chances. Neither has had a great tournament. Hazard has looked jaded and disinterested. And while De Bruyne has shown glimpses of his talent, he has been largely inconsistent. Kompany was their stand out player. He made many a good tackles and also acted as a ball playing defender, launching attacks.

Inspite of having the ball, Belgium never really posed much of a threat to the Argentine defense. Hazard and Mirallas regularly switched flanks aiming to get some bite and movement into attacks. The attacks generally lacked much movement and cohesion, neither was there any one taking on defenders or making runs behind the defense. Vertonghen found space on the left in advanced positions, but being a central defender showed in his bad positional sense and lack of overlaps. He did deliver a good cross or two though. One such cross by him resulted in a free header for Mirallas which went just wide. That was probably the only clear cut chance Belgium conjured up.

Argentina captain Lionel Messi was a constant threat for Belgium.

Argentina were good on the counters. Messi dropped deep to try and pressurize the Belgian attackers and win the ball, which he did successfully a few times. Having won the ball in deep areas, he used his pace, power and dribbling skills to run at the defense and create chances. On one such occassion, he slipped through an inch perfect pass to Di Maria, who shifted on to his left to shoot, but his shot was blocked by Kompany. Another chance was made by Higuain who ran at the defense, nutmegged Kompany and finally hit the bar. These were probably the only real chances Argentina created apart from the goal.

Substitutions

Belgium’s substitutions din’t influence the game much. Wilmots just made three straight swaps with not much thought put in tactically. He brought on Lukaku, Chadli and Mertens – all of whom didn’t make any real difference. What they needed was probably someone who would make more runs, take on defenders and inject some pace into attacks. Someone like Janujaz would have done that.

But all that is just hindsight now. In previous games, they usurped inferior opposition through sheer quantity of attacks and will to win. Late in the game against tired defences was when they looked most likely to score. Argentina however, proved to be a different kettle of fish altogether.

Argentina were comfortable in the lead and didn’t need to change much. Di Maria went off injured just after the half hour mark. Enzo Perez replaced him and occupied a more rigid role on the right unlike Di Maria’s free role. The innefective Lavezzi was replaced by Palacio. While Higuain was sacrificed late into the game and Gago was brought on with an aim to have more bodies in the centre midfield and hold the ball better.

Conclusion

This game was quite similar to the France vs Germany game two days ago. Both were cagey strategic affaris. Both France and Belgium, the losing teams, would be left ruing their luck due to the manner of goals they conceded. Both were soft goals which could have been avoided. Both goals happened very early in the game and as a result, a pattern of play was set for the reamins of the game. Similarly, in both the games, despite the final result suggesting that the game may have been a close one, Germany and Argentina were quite comfortable and were never really pushed to the hilt.

Argentina march ahead. This wasn’t a perfect game for them, far from it. A rather fortuitous early goal won it for them. But they didn’t impress much after that. They sat quite deep and tried to absorb pressure. They weren’t too good at keeping the ball when they won it back and gave it away immediately, which is concerning. A better opposition would have punished them. Their over-reliance on Messi and the injury to Di Maria is also a huge cause for concern.They face Netherlands in the semis in what’s going to be a mouth-watering clash.

For Belgium, it’s the end of the road. They were what dark horses normally are, unpredictable. There is no dearth of talent in this bunch of players. Perhaps a more tactically astute and adventurous manager will help them achieve bigger things next time around. They didn’t make jaws or drop or entertain a lot. Still, they were good for the torunament.

Edited by Staff Editor