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A year into Pep's reign at Bayern Munich, after his side had won the Bundesliga title losing only two games, Germany were at it in on the world stage. They romped to World Cup glory with the lion's share of possession.
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But at this year's World Cup it has been a different story. Just like when Leicester won the Premier League, possession has not been king.
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| Germany's passing game did not work this time around |
Little would please the traditionalists of English football more than the downfall of the tiki-taka movement that revolutionised the game through Pep Guardiola's Barcelona and a world-dominating Spain a decade ago.
A year after Barcelona passed their way to the treble, Spain won
their first ever World Cup by playing their opponents off the park with
near total control of the ball. The basic idea was: 'If you have
possession, the opposition cannot score'. And it worked.
These were two of the best and
most successful sides in recent memory. It was little surprise that they
- and Guardiola in particular - inspired others to follow suit.
A year into Pep's reign at Bayern Munich, after his side had won the Bundesliga title losing only two games, Germany were at it in on the world stage. They romped to World Cup glory with the lion's share of possession.
Tweet to @worldnowtrend
But at this year's World Cup it has been a different story. Just like when Leicester won the Premier League, possession has not been king.
 |
| Spain's 2010 World Cup winners passed their opponents off the park |
Three
teams averaged more than 65 per cent possession in the group stage:
Spain (72.8 per cent), Germany (72.0 per cent) and Argentina (67.8 per
cent). All three struggled.
Spain finished top of Group B, but scarcely deserved to, and could
easily have ended up crashing out, so troubling have they found all
three of their games.
Germany, of course, did go out at the group stage, after defeats to
Mexico and South Korea in which they were hit ruthlessly on the break.
And Argentina were five minutes away from elimination before Marcos Rojo proved their unlikely saviour against Nigeria.
For each side, relentless possession, aimed at wearing their
opponents down by tiring them out, became passive passing. Where they
wanted incisive passing-and-moving they produced ponderous football.
Credit
where it's due to the teams they faced. Morocco gave Spain a real scare,
while Iceland caused Argentina all kinds of problems with just 22 per
cent of the ball, and South Korea killed Germany's World Cup hopes with a
similar share of possession. These performances follow a discernible
2018 World Cup pattern.
In the 48 group stage games, there were 14 instances of a team
recording more than 65 per cent possession in a match. Of those 14, only
five won the game.
What's more, of those five, three - Germany against Sweden, Brazil against Costa Rica and Argentina against Nigeria - required a winning goal after the 85th minute. Two of them needed an injury-time winner.
