Holland v Uruguay: tactical preview
Possible starting line-ups
Holland have so far used the same 4-2-3-1 shape in every game, whilst Uruguay have used at least three different formations. Oscar Tabarez is the man with more dilemmas ahead of this contest.
So how will he approach this one? Firstly, we must note that he is without two players who would have started. Luis Suarez will be absent after his handball against Ghana, whilst Jorge Fucile, the left-back who has had an excellent tournament, is also suspended. Tabarez has again named his side a day before kick-off – but with slight injury doubts over a couple of key players, there could be late changes.
The absence of the first-choice left-back is an obvious weakness considering that player will be up against Arjen Robben, but the Dutchman’s slightly unusual nature (an insistence on coming inside at every possible opportunity) provided an interesting debate for Tabarez.
There were broadly three options: Diego Godin, a centre-back who is an injury doubt after going off in the first half against Ghana; Martin Cacares, a highly-rated Barcelona player who has only played four complete matches in 2010, and was sent-off on his last appearance for Uruguay; and Alvaro Pereira, a speedy player who prefers a wing-back role, and has been used as a left-sided carrilero in this tournament.
Tabarez has named Caceres, Godin and Pereira in the side. It seems likely that Godin will start at centre-back (Diego Lugano is injured), Caceres will take the left-back position, whilst Pereira’s natural defensive qualities (he plays left-back for Porto) means he’ll be comfortable doubling up when Robben gets the ball. There is a chance that Godin could play at left-back with Cacares in the centre, but sources close to the side indicate that this will probably not be the case. The use of a nominal centre-back at left-back means they will probably be more comfortable remaining in a fairly central role and showing Robben down the line – Uruguay will defend relatively deep, quite narrow, and try and keep it tight between the lines.
Khalid Boulahrouz will start at right-back
Tabarez has also picked Napoli’s stocky defensive midfielder Walter Gargano. This will be his first start of the competition, despite the fact he appeared to be a key player ahead of the tournament. His position is deep in midfield, so Uruguay will either play three central midfielders and a left-winger (with Forlan or Cavani dropping to the right), or Diego Perez will move out to a slightly right-sided role. Or, quite possibly, we’ll see a hybrid of the two – like how their South American rivals Paraguay set out against Japan.
Bert van Marwijk has a more straightforward task, as he will retain his favoured 4-2-3-1 system. He also has two suspensions to deal with, and the replacements seem fairly obvious – Khalid Boulahrouz will come in for Gregory van der Wiel, whilst Demy de Zeeuw will fill the position usually taken by Nigel de Jong.
His priorities when attacking will depend on the formation Uruguay deploy, but it is likely that at least one of his full-backs will have a decent amount of time on the ball. Further up the pitch, Uruguay keep two defensive midfielders in front of their centre-backs at all times, which will deny Wesley Sneijder space to operate in. Therefore, a key player might be Mark van Bommel, who will have to provide some creativity.
Former teammates Diego Forlan and Johnny Heitinga will be in direct confrontation
That said, don’t expect Holland to vary their attacking approach from previous games too much. They’ll be confident in the ability of Sneijder, van Persie and Robben to break down the Uruguayan defence, and their tactical concerns will be defensive-minded.”We have learned that you have to keep a clean sheet, first of all”, says Nigel de Jong, in a tremendous piece about this Dutch side by Raphael Honigstein.
Where will Uruguay’s goal threat come from? The obvious answer is Forlan, but he will be closely marshalled by the centre-backs and de Zeeuw. Cacares will remain in a defensive position against Robben, whilst Maxi Pereira’s forward charges will be tracked by Kuyt. The two central midfielders will stay deep, and so attacking Holland’s full-backs might be the answer.
Usually, Giovanni van Bronckhorst is the main target, but he’s coped quite well against pace so far, by sticking tight to his man and not letting them turn, leaving any forward charges from the opposition right-back to Kuyt. Furthermore, if Perez plays on the right, Uruguay won’t have much creativity from that position. Attention might instead switch to Boulahrouz – if Pereira gets forward, stays wide, and use his pace, Boulahrouz will struggle, and that could turn out to be the key contest of the match.
With both sides seemingly focused on defending well, we could be in for a very tight game.
Holland v Uruguay: tactical preview
What do you think about ball possession? Is it gonna be mostly for Holland and Uruguay will counter attack only? Or the Southamericans will try to keep it a bit (that would explain Gargano, which is a good holder and passer)?
go uruguay
Love the site, keepup the good work!
Some thoughts…
1) The Uruguay defence relies on numbers and sits very deep (and waits for the counter opportunity via Forlan), but they don’t pick up players well. Holland will exploit this probably by Schneijder coming late into the penalty area.
2) The chance of Robben getting Cacares sent off is huge.
3) De Zeuw (the defensive midfielder replacing de Jonge) also has attacking/creative potential as he has shown consistently at AZ and now Ajax. My feeling is that he more than van Bommel could make the difference in moving forward and unlocking the Uruguay defence.
I agree, especially with the 3). If Uruguay is going to take this aproach of the game ZM is suggesting, for Holland and De Zeew it would be a blessing.
De Zeew is no way near the way De Jong is playing. If this space is provided to him, he will score.
de jong is undoubtedly the best tackler on the team though, and he is a non stop engine
With Cavani expected to start out wide, the two teams are effectively set-up in the same 4231 way. This game should therefore be less about tactics and more about execution of the basic skills and, perhaps more importantly, an individual contribution.
Leaving aside the potential contribution represented by a defender’s covering tackle, or a keeper’s outstanding save, it is likely that the defining moment will come from one of three places – Robben, Sneijder or Forlan. The loss of the suspended Suarez tilts the odds in Hollands favour. And if, and it’s a big ‘if’, van Persie steps up to show his form of last autumn, then the balance of individual game changers shifts even more decisively to the Dutch.
In a World Cup where feted individuals have failed to prevail against the collective organisation and ethic of teams, will this be the first match where we come away with that special feeling that comes from watching the magic of an individual – a Best, Maradona, or Cantona moment – rather than applauding the Coach and the collective team?
Best and Cantona dont have any magical or individual World Cup moments in their lockers. This game has a 0-0 written all-over it *watch the goal-fest unfold*
I don’t see how Uruguay are playing 4-2-3-1. Where are the three attacking midfielders? Perhaps A. Pereira will get forward more than he has in other games but he will need to improve his attacking contribution.
I hope Uruguay pressure the Netherlands full backs a bit more in this game but I fear they may retreat to a 5 in midfield. If this happens they may not be able to get the ball to Forlan in advanced positions or positions where team mates are in advance of him to passs it to.
quiet agree with you. Don’t underestimate power of the dark side!!!
Uruguay clearly concentrates on the defensive, with only 3 players who’ll think forward.
Two central attackers is new experience for Holland in this tournament (everyone has played one central striker so far) but Forlan surely will be the linking pin, so the main line of attack will be Gargano -> Forlan -> Cavani. I expect lots of pressure by Holland against a wall of defenders by Uruguay.
On the Dutch side, the front four should run rings around any amount of Uruguayan defenders, who haven’t really shown the ability to cover well. However, Sneijder, van Persie and Robben are also injury prone, and I expect at least one of them to get injured (badly) and not be able to play the final. We can only hope it’ll be Van Persie, who has diappointed so far.
It all depends on whether Holland can score in the first 20 minutes. If not, it could be very tedious and possibly very painful for Holland.
I have a strong suspicion that if the announced lineup from Tabarez is correct then we’re looking at a 3-5-2 and it might just be the stroke of genius that could give the Dutch a lot of problems.
I could easily see A. Pereira being further back as a left-wingback and Cacares as maybe the left-central defender.
One interestingly enough who has often played right-back and I have no doubt that’s a move to have someone with his natural foot defending Robben whenever he is cutting inside.
I’d still agree with another comment though, that Cacares for all his obvious talent is wild and unreliable enough to be sent off a good amount of the time in such a matchup.
But this Uruguay lineup will absolutely flood the central, when Forlan drops back we could be looking at 6 midfielders, challenging the Dutch (of all people!) to come up with the necessary kind of width to break it down. A necessary width that they (of all people!) with their current lineup seems to be lacking and their one hope might just be Robben in that adjusted for matchup against A. Pereira and Cacares, though I’m sure the Uruguay Stig Tofting, Arevalo will join in on the fun as well.
But elsewhere there is very little. Van der Wiel being out makes this lineup from Tabarez even better since now it’s a couple of Dutch fullbacks not all that good at coming forward and Dirk Kuyt on the other wing will be cutting into the flooded central as well, rather than provide the much needed stretching out of the 3 Uruguay defenders in the middle.
If we are looking at a 3-5-2 from Uruguay this is the one time where they might just really need Elia but Kuyt of course with his strong play sits on the position comfortably.
A classic Dutch 4-3-3 with classic wings and some good attacking fullbacks could kill this Uruguay formation, stretching it out, but that just isn’t what we’ve seen from the Dutch and this could be a brilliant adjustment from Uruguay.
Maybe Sneijder with a strong game could do something individually but he’ll be under a lot of pressure central and that neither of Van Bommel and De Jong replacement De Zeeuw under Marwijk orders are rarely in front of the ball won’t help matters.
Switching around Robben (normally a bad thing but in this game maybe better) and Kuyt is the immediate in-game reaction that could help but just like in the famous Roma-Lazio Serie A game from last season, that ZM wrote an excellent report on, if this will be the scenario, Van Marwijk like Ranieri against the Lazio 3-5-2, might just have to make some brave adjustments.
I think for Uruguay in this system going forward, without Suarez and likely now Cavani being more box centered, that Forlan will have less talent to work with, make plays for on the attack, but they’ll just have to hope that their massive centre (and it not being stretched out enough) and the advantages that will bring will mean good opportunities for people we haven’t seen much from so far going forward.
I had almost forgotten this formation from Uruguay. I believe they used it in qualification (more as a 3-4-1-2 though) and it was frankly what I was expecting this tournament with Gargano as a key player, but it resurfacing, possibly just at the right time, maybe even the perfect time, could make this game a lot more interesting than I first thought.
Caceres, my name is actually Caceres…
Nothing personal, there is a mistake in the main article too.
If Cavani does play on the right, which seems especially likely due to the fact Tabarez will want a less offensively inclined player to help the fullback on Robben’s side, that should leave Boulahrouz with a lot of time on the ball, 10-15 yards deeper than the left-sided Pereira. I predict he will have the most passes completed at the end of 90 minutes.
That has to be seen as a victory for Uruguay, since the Cannibal is not exactly Cafu out there. Couple that with Van Persie’s health issues and the added defensive solidity created by the replacing of Suarez with Gargano and I think Uruguay will definitely be in this game for at least an hour. Extra time is a strong possibility.
Forlan’s hold up play, like Gyan against the U.S.A, should be one of the keys to the game. If he isn’t consistent with it, Uruguay will have to defend for too long, and a 2nd half Dutch breakthrough will become more likely.
The Dutch bench will, I predict, prove vital. If Elia or Van Der Vaart can come in and make an impact then 1-0 or 2-1 to the Dutch makes sense.
I think people are overrating the Dutch attack. Most likely, the Dutch will get the kind of win the Spanish have been moving forward with, but I would not count Uruguay out. This Dutch team, albeit a little less without De Jong, is set up for tight games, which means Forlan should have a chance to equalize or give his team the lead at some point.
If we’re relying on Van Bommel for creativity we’re struggling. Unless you mean creative ways to persistently foul without getting booked.
Honigstein’s piece misses the point, in my view. My disappointment with the negative and surly performances of this Dutch team is not born of a comparison with the 1970s team; it is based on what they could be given the creativity in their squad. A squad with Sneijder, Van Persie, Van der Vaart, Robben and Afellay should not be making 53% of their passes in their own half, the highest of any team in the tournament.
Arevalo impressed me as the midfield destroyer against Ghana.
Me too. Very active, well-positioned, and tough. Maybe it’s something about the shirt, but he looks kind of fat, so his quickness and running were a surprise.
The SI artcile on Holland was very good. People forget that Frank Rijkaard made Edgar Davids his first signing at Barcelona. The press was clamoring for a striker at the time and Rijkaard signs a defensive midfielder. Davids helped Barcelona recover its form.
Guardiola also built from deep at Barcelona. Gerard Pique and Seydou Keita were his first two signings.
It is hard to argue against the two screening players in today’s game with the results of national sides like Holland and Germany.
There is a world of difference between Germany’s two screening players (Khedira and Schweinsteiger) and Holland’s (Van Bommel and De Jong). Germany are a much more fluid team and both of their holding players interchange very successfully with more officially attacking team mates. The Dutch pair have sat back for the entire tournament to date and left all the creativity to the four in front of them. A totally different approach, in my view.
They are very different players, but the general objective is the same as far as positioning is concerned. Khedira and Schweinsteiger are content to take up deep positions and pick their opportunities to go forward while simultaneously creating space for Ozil to exploit.
It is all designed to open space for the attackers. Defenders have quite a dilemma. If they try and close down the central midfielders, they are vacating a vast amount of space. If they do not close down, they are conceding the possession battle.
The difference in performance so far between the Dutch defensive midfielders and the German defensive midfielders has to do with the opponents as well.
What you need to make forward runs is space, something that was given in large proportions by England and Argentina. Looking at the opponents the Dutch have met so far all of them had one thing in common; defence first.
van Bommel loves to make those forward runs, especially at psv he was renowned for it.
Maybe a walk-trough of the teams penalty shooters and goalies would have been the best preview for this semifinal
I think this game calls for a slightly riskier approach from van Marwijk, specifically I think he needs to replace Kuyt with Elia at the left wing position.
SuperHoops correctly points out that the idea of relying on Van Bommel for creativity is a worrying one for the Dutch. If the sentence read, “the Dutch are relying on Van Bommel to relentlessly kick/foul the opposition and turn the neutral fan against him” then it would be a different story. Therefore why not add another dynamic attacker like Elia to the mix, while a repeat of his wonder goal against Hungary is unlikely it did show what he’s capable of.
The six Dutch defenders should be able to deal with the Uruguayan attacking threat, especially with their central midfield so deep and Perez being a limited attacking player. An Elia for Kuyt switch should not affect their ability to stop Uruguay from scoring in a significant way, this is not Maicon again.
I agree with Daniel that as the two teams are set up, we’re looking at a very tight game in prospect and as has says Forlan is the kind of player who can conjure a goal with his tremendous long shooting ability. I feel Holland need to play a slightly more attacking game, with their talent they are capable of scoring a few goals and I think adding another attacking player like Elia only helps. Compared to Robben’s one man show on the right, Elia’s less selfish approach wil be welcome on the left. He’s happy finishing a good move whereas Robben seems to want to create and score himself (which he is capable of doing).
Forlan scoring in the 85th with the Dutch winning 1-0 just seems like too much of a worry. Why not attack?
Honestly though, it’s pretty unlikely this will happen.
I think the Dutch coach must be tempted to start with Kuyt up top and Elia out left, tire out the Uruguayans, then have Van Persie come on after an hour to win the game.
Considering Van Persie is not fully healthy, it makes sense. More likely, Elia comes on in the 80th with the score 1-1.
Van Marwijk recently said in a press-conference that Kuyt is the first name he puts down on a line-up.
So although it might me better to put Elia there, it’s never going to happen.
As for attacking, I’m pretty sure that this time they’ll go for the throat. They tried with Brazil but the finishing was lacking, the pressure and constant attack was there though, and against Uruguay, they might just succeed.
And Van Bommel, I love the guy. When it comes to fairness, he’s horrible (hell, I’m surprised referees don’t watch tapes on him and specifically note all his unnoticed fouling), but he’s more effective than having 10 Suarez’s goalkeeping.
Caceres is right-footed, isn’t he? Could this be a deliberate attempt to play an inside-out left-back against an inside-out right winger? I seem to remember Hiddink using Bosingwa on the left to match up with Messi in the CL last year, so maybe this will become a common way of dealing with the most threatening inside-out wingers.
Also, @Lippi-kai-nay’s suggestion that this lineup could represent 3-5-2 is very interesting.
ZM, you hardly get your tactics/formations wrong, but with Uruguay continually changing and the suspensions they have, we can never predict what Tabarez will do. I think Arevalo should be dropped for Gargano…a long time ago!! Arevalo is awefully poor and very uncomfortable on the ball (for a professional midfielder). Gargano will provide a much better alternative, keeping Sneijder relatively quite and still managing to put a string of constructive passes together. Perez will do the running for him, closing down and being equally dirty with Van Bommel. After 80 minutes, Perez looks like a souless zombie, but he’s still running! I’m also hoping Tabarez will deploy an attacking midfielder behind Forlan (if only Lodeiro wasn’t injured), maybe Nacho, although he had a way too average opening game. At least, he will distract the centre backs and De Zeeuw, so Uruguay’s midfielders will occupy/restrict Holland’s central creativity. On tghe wings, if Cavani is on his day, Gio is in for a nightmare, but that rarely happens. Alvaro on the left should trouble Boulahrouz, as he hardly attacks anyway and is prone to rash tackling. The only worry might be with Robben. I like his style and dont think he’s a diver, but Caceres, as promising as he is, might be a bi too aggresive for Robben to stay on his feet. Other than that, it’s a battle between 2 managers with distinct approaches. It might be an awkward night, but these Charruas never have it easy. I loved Tabarez’ comment on the semi’s being a party they were not invited to…I hope they spoil the party
Yeah, it’s impossible to predict the formation. It could be anything.
Great site ZM. It’s a pity I only discovered it a few weeks ago, but I definitely plan to continue following it after the World Cup is over.
I agree with others that this seems likely to be a close game, especially if Holland don’t get an early goal. If Holland manage to get an early lead I would expect them to be highly effective on the counter, especially because De Zeeuw is better at launching them than De Jong.
If it were up to me I would consider playing with Kuyt upfront and Elia on the left, and bringing on van Persie later to punish a tired South American defense. This could backfire, however, if it just enhances van Persie’s frustration. Although his movement has at times been good, he doesn’t look comfortable in his play. He needs to be involved in a few nice actions to boost his confidence so that he stops playing so forcefully. Starting with him on the bench makes this less likely. It’s an interesting trade-off. Knowing van Maarwijk, I would expect van Persie to start upfront with Kuyt on the left, with the potential for a late role for Elia to frustrate the Uruguayans.
Uruguay shouldn’t be underestimated, but should be rather doable for the Dutch. Especially if Forlan isn’t given much breathing room, or the opportunity to showcase his free kick taking ability. I expect a dirty game that will end either 1-0 for Holland if it’s scoreless at half time, or perhaps 2-0 or even 3-0 if they take an early lead.
5 points to add:
a) I agree that Van Bommel will have a lot of ball possession because there will be room at his position. Unfortunately he wastes a lot of this time on the ball with awkward diagonal passes to Kuyt. Instead of Schweinsteiger who always tries to give a quick FLAT direct pass to feed the offensive players, Van Bommel travels with the ball on his feet and eventually passes the ball backwards or he tries the mentioned diagonal pass to Kuyt..
b) I hate the attitude of Uruguay and the way they cheated to reach the semi finals. Also their history of bad attitude against australia in previous relegations makes me sick.
c) Van Persie and his signature move (the 360 body move) will free him from the defenders and create oppurtunities.
d) Sneijder is overrated but needs to play further up the field in the offense to make an impact instead of dropping deep to the Midfield.
e) I also see A. Perreira as the main threat for the dutch defence. At top speed he has more than 30 kmh of pace and Boularouz is more like a lumberjack than a footballer.
Cheated? How ridiculous! He committed a handball in the box, and he was penalized for it to the maximum extent of the rules of football. There was no deceit involved, no attempt to to fool or trick the referee. If you want an example of cheating, take a look at the free-kick that led to the handball. The Ghanaian committed one of the most ridiculous simulations in an attempt to deceive the referee into whistling a foul. That was deceit, trickery, thievery! And he got away with it, Suarez did not get away with it. The Ghanaian wasn’t touched by the left-back, yet his cheating resulted in a foul that could have robbed Uruguay of a spot in the next round. That is the real injustice, my friend.
What Suarez did was not cheating.
Cheating involves trying to fool the referee, which Suarez obviously wasn’t trying to do.
His was a last desperate grasp to save his team.
Handling the ball in that situation to me is very similar to bringing down an opponent as a last defender. You do it to save your team even if you know you’ll be sent off.
If bringing down a player on his way to goal is called a ‘professional foul’, then what Suarez did was a professional foul as well.
It’s Cáceres not Cacares
Caceres is also right footed, making it a little easier when Robben wants to cut in. He also has good pace. With Van De Weil out, Perreira and Caceres will have a much easier job dealing with Robben.
This site is pure mental masturbation. Does anyone here play the game? Does anyone here admire the skill displayed?
Wow, the Dutch just made that alot harder than they should have. As for you Alexis, ummmm WTF? lol
If you’re speaking of Holland, Alexis, you must be referring to their skill at charming the linesmen. How many blown off-sides calls were there? And every one of them blown in Holland’s favor. The goal line officiating is not the only area that needs to be looked into. Between the simulations and 30% blown off-sides calls, this tournament has looked ridiculous at times. FIFA needs to figure this out so the game can go back to being decided by skill: mostly a lack of it by a majority of the goal keepers.
Yes, I’m beating a dead horse, but it’s 100 degrees in Brooklyn and lots of dead horses in the streets to kick.
Not all the offside calls went the Dutch way. It’s only after the game that all the mistakes the favored the winning team will be remembered. In the first half the linesmen were anticipating offside, which went the Dutch way about 60% of the time, but a few times it was unfairly called against Kuyt and Van Persie. In the second half they stopped that, but over-corrected and could have called it tighter. However, I do agree that that the linesmen for this game have swinging between eccentric and outright horrible.
As for the w*nker *lexis–learning about tactics is one of the best way of improving your game and skills. Since I learned about tactical positioning I play better defense and offense. It’s also good to do ball practice and sprints, but it’s useless if you’re constantly in the wrong place on the field and have no idea where to go running. Samuel Eto’o and Fabregas are both know to watch random games (such as lower league European and African games) in order to observe how others retain ball possession and keep their defensive shape. If you want to say that those two have no appreciation technical play, go ahead, but just keep in mind who the true w*nker is.
Yes, but there’s hundreds of websites going on about how good Wonderkindinho from Brazil is because he can do stepovers, this is something different, but thanks for the feedback
Wonderkindinho won the World Cup. His game against England in 02 is priceless. His problem is off the field and no one is taking it seriously. There are strong indications of alcholism. Even with that, he did win the World Cup, end of story.
4-5-1! 4-3-3! 4-3-2-1! 4-2-3-1! 4-2-3-1 4-2-3-1 4-2-3-1 4-2-3-1 4-2-3-1 !!!!! …. sorry, just had a mental orgasm. sure beats going for a kick-around or watching spain pass the ball about. i’m ready to go again, now where did i leave that article on bielsa?