How Russia 2018 saw claustrophobic football crowd tiki-taka off world stage

 


"In Russia that virtue became a vice and tiki-taka became a caricature of itself. The objective became to pass the ball, ignoring the existence of the goalposts. Like a writer with a perfect command of language who forgets what it is he wants to say. The ball, used with creativity, guile and ingenuity, serves to distract and to clear the path towards the opposition’s goal. That requires criteria – an understanding of what it is you are trying to achieve – and it requires the ball to circulate quickly, in order to be able to reach the final 30 metres of the pitch with some advantage. From there, to unbalance and overcome the opposition, you need the same tools as ever: dribbling, a one-two, imagination, precision to deliver a pass inside and aggression in all its manifestations – speed, ambition, determination.

None of that happened in Russia, where tiki-taka became “tiki-tiki”.

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How Russia 2018 saw claustrophobic football crowd tiki-taka off world stage | Jorge Valdano | Football | 
The Guardian: The changing of the tactical guard at the World Cup was marked by early exits for Germany and Spain, and now the pace and aggression of France shows the way forward