Homogeneity Could Be The Key To Success In Qatar

Distinctive national styles have been one of the World Cup’s traditional joys but not any more, writes Miguel Delaney

- Miguel Delaney

Over the past few months, Gareth Southgate has been immersing himself in more information than any England manager has ever had going into a World Cup. The breadth is remarkable. Zooming out, there are all of the models and handbooks, that basically distill thousands of minutes of football to tell managers how World Cups are won”. Zooming in, there are all the individual analyses of each team.

Some elements stand out across so much information. One is that virtually every side at this World Cup counter presses. It’s become a common trend across all teams,” says Dr David Adams, the Welsh FA’s chief football officer. Even the lower-ranked teams don’t just drop into a defensive block when they lose the ball anymore. That’s an idea, from Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, that has gone across all of the football ecosystems.”

It points to one way this World Cup is different to almost everyone that has gone before it, which is actually in its homogeneity. International audiences are highly unlikely to see teams play ina distinctive national style” any more. That is both to the competition’s detriment and its benefit. One of the World Cup’s traditional joys, after all, has been how supporters have been given introductions to different football worlds. It was part of its exhilaratingly exotic nature, as well as its tapestry.

There was, most famously, Brazilian expressionism that was best seen in 1970 and 1982. There was Total Football. More specifically, in terms of position, there was the imagination of Balkan playmakers. There were granite Italian center halves. This is much more than just a feeling that has faded because of familiarity, and how much football we can now watch. It is also a tangible trend driven by the very fact you can watch so much football. It is as much about globalised telecommunication as the game.