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Defending at this years World Cup

Everyone’s been talking about the surprising amount of goals in the opening of this FIFA World Cup (3.5 per game as opposed to just 1.6 in South Africa four years ago ), a ratio which is the highest average tally since the 1958 tournament in Sweden.

Of course, as football supporters we want to see bright, attacking play, with plenty of goal-mouth action, but has this World Cup been a case of very poor defending or care-free attacking optimism?

When we look at the line-up of all the major nations’ back three or four, it’s hard to pick out the truly World Class defenders who can command and organise a back line. Aston Villa’s Ron Vlaar has probably looked the most accomplished so far for the Dutch, with the inexperienced 22 year old duo of Stefan De Vrij and Bruno Martins-Indi alongside him. Spain’s lack of pace meant that Vlaar was comfortable for most of the 5-1 mauling, but he may struggle when facing the electric speedster, Alexis Sanchez of Chile.

The rise of the goal ratio may simply be that none of the defenders playing in this World Cup would feature in an all time list of great defensive players, whereas in the 1990’s & 2000’s there were colossal defenders of World Class quality who will always be considered some of the best to have played the game. Italy, for example, always viewed as so unforgiving in their defensive set-up, have the pairing of Gabriel Paletta and Andrea Barzagli, with their most consistent defender Giorgio Chiellini being shifted across to the left to keep things shored up at the back.

It is hardly the Italian back line of Baresi, Costacurta and Maldini from 20 years ago, and there is a similar story with France who now rely on the 21 year old Raphael Varane and the clumsy Mamadou Sakho, a combination light years behind the imposing presence of Marcel Desailly and Laurent Blanc in 1998.

The Dutch themselves may seriously miss someone of the calibre of Jaap Stam (67 caps between 1996 -2004) as the tournament progresses, while Argentina could come short because of the absence of a Roberto Ayala (115 caps 1994 -2007) like figure at the back, as Ezequiel Garay and Federico Fernandez have none of the experience and grit of the great Valencia defender.

It could even be argued that England should have taken John Terry and Ashley Cole to provide that solid Chelsea combination alongside Gary Cahill; Everton left-back Leighton Baines was dreadfully exposed in the 2-1 defeat by Italy, and Terry provides that lion-hearted commitment to defending that England have not seen since the likes of Sol Campbell and Tony Adams.

Germany are fairing slightly better with the composed and intelligent, Matts Hummels partnering the physical (if slightly immobile) and powerful, Per Mertesacker, but it’s not quite the elegant domination of legendary 90’s sweeper, Matias Sammer, or the always reliable, Jurgen Kohler.

Spain are suffering in the absence of the courageous (and now retired) Carlos Puyol, with Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique now having to do some actual defending instead of just sweeping up behind the aggressive pressure of Puyol.

It’s probably Brazil who have the most solid looking defensive unit under the cautious approach of Scolari, the man who guided a functional Brazil team to glory in 2002, relying on the goals of Ronaldo and Rivaldo to edge his team to victory. This time, Neymar, and possibly, Oscar are Brazil’s only really talented superstar’s going forward, but at the back they have the most expensive defender in football History in Thiago Silva (a 42m Euro from AC Milan to PSG), only to be outdone by his centre-back and now club compatriot, David Luiz, who moved to PSG for £50m at the end of the season. Barcelona and Real Madrid provide the full-backs in Dani Alves and Marcelo, respectively, while Julio Cesar is a goalkeeper with 81 caps for the Selecao.

Maybe these players will be considered as all-time greats in the years to come, but at the moment, it is the absence of World Class defenders, not just the more attacking philosophies, that is causing this World Cup to be such an exciting goalfest.

 

 

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