🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Inter Milan have announced that that 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥 players have left the club at the expiry of their contracts:
🔸 Yann Sommer
🔸 Matteo Darmian
🔸 Stefan De Vrij
🔸 Francesco Acerbi
(Source: @Inter)
I’ve been thinking about Japan after watching them against Sweden, because they play in a way that feels a little different from a lot of the teams I’ve been drawn to in this World Cup.
A lot of the “modern” possession teams we talk about are trying to get players closer together. Argentina do it. Germany do it. Lots of teams are trying to create tighter spaces where players can combine, attract pressure, and then play out.
But Japan felt different.
They play big. They really use the whole field. They stretch the game wide, leave bigger distances between players, and at times almost look a little old school. You can imagine a coach saying, “Get your heels on the touchline, make the field big, stretch the opponent.”
But the more I watched, the more I thought the important part was not just that Japan were big. It was that their spacing was constantly alive.
Players were not just standing wide and waiting. One player would come inside, another would move outside. One would stretch high, another would show underneath. When they played direct, it did not feel hopeful, because there was often a player close enough to help with the next action. When they went wide, it did not feel like they were just escaping pressure, because the movement around the ball gave the wide player a way to keep playing.
That is the part I found interesting.
Japan did not seem to rely on one player constantly dribbling past people to create danger. They used the pass more than the dribble. They used movement to create the space, and then timing to use it.
I think that is a useful reminder for coaches.
Sometimes we talk about spacing like the answer is either “spread out” or “get closer.” But teams can be compact and still be disconnected. Teams can be stretched out and still be connected.
The better question is whether the distances between players help the next player solve the problem.
If the player receives wide and has no help, the spacing probably is not helping. If the forward receives a direct ball and nobody is underneath, it probably just becomes a duel. But if the wide player receives and already has movement around them, or the forward receives and already knows where the layoff is, then the team can play big without becoming disconnected.
That is what I liked about Japan.
They used the full size of the field, but they still helped each other.
The width created space, but the movement gave the space meaning.