AGR's Analysis: The CanMNT learn valuable tactical lessons despite tough loss to Croatia
Despite their heartbreaking loss to Croatia at the men's World Cup, there was a lot to learn from a Canadian perspective. Here's a deeper look at what they'll look to take from this one.
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It may have hurt in the end, but it’ll provide a lot of key learning material for them to reflect back on.
Ultimately, the CanMNT’s big 4-1 defeat to Croatia at the men’s World Cup might be best remembered for what happened off the pitch, be it before, during or after the match, but on the pitch, it also proved to be a valuable learning lesson for a young Canadian side.
Faced off against the 2018 World Cup runners up, it was never going to be an easy match for Canada, but at the same time, not many expected Canada to be as ruthlessly exposed as they eventually were on the day.
Yet, those are the fine margins of this level. You cannot afford to give an inch, or else teams will take a mile, and Canada learned that hard way in this game.
At the same time, that’s not a bad thing for John Herdman’s side. This World Cup was always going to be about learning and growth, and although it certainly stings that Canada were eliminated the way that they were, these are the sorts of games that they’ll need to play (and learn from) in the long run.
Sometimes, to become the best, you need to learn how to beat the best, a lesson that a team that Croatia, a team who has certainly found that out over the years, dished out on Sunday.
As long as you learn from your mistakes, that’s what’s going to make a difference in the long-run, something that Canada will now look to put into practice.
And speaking of which, here’s a look at some of what some of Canada might look to take away from this Croatia match, one that could prove to be crucial in helping Canada take that next step as a team going forward.
In terms of starts, it doesn’t get much better than this game for Canada. Having failed to score against Belgium despite creating a boatload of chances, you just wondered what they’d be able to muster up against a strong Croatian defence. And this time, after failing to breach the target despite 21 shots (including a penalty) against Belgium, it took them just 67 seconds to change that in this game. What a goal it was, too. Everything was perfect here from Canada, from the way that they strung the ball around for the entire minute before the goal, doing well to suck Croatia up the field, before pouncing with a long ball over the top, one that unlocked the space they needed to craft the goal. Everything about this sequence was polished, from Milan Borjan’s long ball to Cyle Larin’s touch, before Tajon Buchanan and Alphonso Davies combined for the rest. Against a Croatian side that likes to press aggressively in a compact unit, it was a textbook example of how to break them down, as they did well to stretch the field before breaking Croatia’s lines, and were rewarded with a first men’s World Cup goal to remember. Pretty fitting that it came off the head of Alphonso Davies, too, it must be said.
But shortly after the goal, some flaws with Canada’s shape were exposed. A 4-4-2 off the ball, they ended up hovering between a 3-4-3 and a 4-4-2 on it, mostly opting for the former when building up. The only problem with that, however, was that at times, they would often spread out too much in midfield, which considering how good Croatia were in that area, made it hard for them to play through the middle. As a result, there were a lot of sequences like the one below for Canada, as they looked to build-up, yet were met with a resolute Croatian midfield wall, their jobs made easy by the enormous gap that Canada left in the middle of the park.
But the build-up play was hardly Canada’s biggest worry. Instead, that was the prospect of trying to stop Croatia’s midfield trio of Marcelo Brozović, Mateo Kovačić and Luka Modrić. A formidable unit, they are one of the most organized midfields in the world, both on and off the ball. As a result, it’s important that teams who play them ensure that they’re very positionally sound in midfield. Especially for Canada, who was playing a 4-4-2 off the ball, leaving them outnumbered in central midfield, doing that was of *upmost* importance for them. Yet, despite that, they struggled to keep their shape in this game (as you’ll see, that’s a bit of a theme). Instead of sticking in two compact and organized blocks of 4, they often struggled to hold their midfield and defensive lines, leaving gaps for Croatia to play right through.
And those gaps would cause problems for Canada all game long. And Croatia had no problem playing through them, time after time.
Returning to the build-up, however, here’s another example of Canada playing right into Croatia’s midfield block. Instead of forcing them to push up and press Canada (as they did on Canada’s goal), Croatia sat in a comfortable mid block, as seen before. Yet, despite that, Canada doesn’t have the bodies in midfield to play through that, nullifying their attempts to stretch the pitch with their width (something Tajon Buchanan and Alistair Johnston did a great job of doing at the top of the screen).
At the same time, Canada did have a few good moments where they did drag Croatia up the pitch, and then played right through them. Here, they nearly made something out of such a play, but then they failed to play the final ball.
One note with the build-up, however, was that Canada did miss Sam Adekugbe in that area of the pitch, as he was left on the bench for Richie Laryea. A reasonable shout given how good Laryea was against Belgium, the only issue was that Laryea was then forced to shift out to the left in this game after being excellent on his preferred right side against Belgium. And in clips like this, he showed what that meant for Canada’s build-up. After a great switch from Alistair Johnston to spread the field, instead of bursting into the space opened up down the flank, Laryea instinctively cut in onto his right foot. If that’s Adekugbe, he drives down the line onto his stronger left foot, the same way that Laryea would’ve done the same with his right foot had he been playing on the other side.
Back to the theme of Canada’s defensive shape, however, here’s another example of them… straying from for their 4-4-2, for a lack of better way to put it.
The great thing about playing Alphonso Davies high up the pitch for Canada is that he can be relentless defensively, something that he showed on this play, one where he snuffed out a key attack for Croatia, springing a counter-attack for Canada.
Then, of course, Davies’s deployment also means that you get to see a lot more bursting runs like this one from him, in which he stretches the field so quickly after an error from Croatia. One thing to note, however, was that this also potentially showed some of the niggling after-effects of his recent recovery from a hamstring injury - usually, it feels like he’d have run closer to the byline here than he did before crossing. It looks like Cyle Larin and Jonathan David also thought that, too.
But then, there’s the flip side of Davies playing higher up the pitch. Sometimes, he can get carried away with the attacking side of the game. And that’s not a bad thing, as he’s a vital threat in the attack, but in a game like this, where Canada needed to maintain their defensive shape, you’d like to see him (bottom of the GIF) get back into his position in the 4-4-2 a *little* quicker.
At his best, Jonathan David is one of the best #9s in the world when it comes to dropping deep and combining with his teammates. He proved that in the Belgium loss. Against Croatia, however, he had a few uncharacteristic moments like this when he did find open pockets. Those things happen, so it’s not the end of the world, but those are the sorts of plays you need to make in order to break Croatia’s defensive lines.
And here’s more Canadian woes with their defensive shape. First, their back four is all out of sync, which leaves gaps and keeps players onside. Then, their midfield four is stretched. Try and remember this for later…
Alphonso Davies is going to make a great #8 one day. He’s shown glimpses of it with Canada, where deployed in a free midfield role, he can dominate games. Take his performance against Uruguay in September, where he had 6 key passes, as an example. At the same time, while he’s got the killer pass down pat, mastering moments like this will be what helps him. Here, despite having four safe options (the circles) to play to, he goes for a risky pass (the X), which gets picked off, leading to a transition moment. Of course, Davies has that ability to play that risky pass, so you can appreciate the intent, but the key to being a good midfielder is knowing how to strike a balance between making the right safe and risky passes.
And speaking of transition moments, it was an area where they struggled with against Croatia. Upon first watch, it appeared to just be the personnel that Canada deployed, but when watching back, their lack of shape (remember that word?) is what hurt them most. Take this screen grab from a 25th minute Croatian goal that was later called off for offside. Just look at how disconnected Canada’s back four (the Xs) and their midfield four (the Os) are from each other, leaving a huge gap in midfield. Despite having Croatia in a relatively non-threatening position, they leave far too much space, and as a result, Croatia then punished them brutally in that space, with the offside flag being the only thing that spared Canada’s blushes on the play. Yet, that just shows the importance of maintaining your shape and being diligent in transition moments against teams of this calibre.
For all of the talk of his play off the ball, however, Atiba Hutchinson provided strong value in possession for Canada, and his ability to play progressive passes to get out of pressure show why. Had Cyle Larin pivoted his hips more towards the middle after this pass, for example, it could’ve created a good chance for his team, all started by Hutchinson’s strong progressive play.
Again, look at this sequence from Atiba Hutchinson to get Canada out of pressure, as he plays right through Croatia’s press, breaking two lines with quick play. If Alphonso Davies had started running earlier to get to his final pass, that could’ve led to a goal.
As he showed on Canada’s opener, Tajon Buchanan just has this ability to make things happen out of nothing. And he shows that in this next clip. At the same time, this clip also shows something that Buchanan needs to do more of for Canada - just whip the ball into the box after beating a man. After a beautiful dribble, he then goes for a second, and then loses the ball. Considering Canada had created a 3v2 in the box after his first dribble (a similar play to the one they scored on earlier), you do wonder what could’ve happened if he whipped the ball into the box in similar fashion as he did for Davies’s opener.
Speaking of Canada’s midfield shape, however, here’s a good example of why while the 4-4-2 wasn’t the biggest of their problems (with their inability to stay in that formation being the bigger issue), shifting to a 3-player midfield could’ve made a big difference for them. Allowing triangles like this against a midfield of Croatia’s quality is never going to end well, something that can happen when you run a double-pivot as they did.
And if you’re wondering why I had shown all of those clips and pictures of Canada’s defensive shape earlier, this next sequence shows why. Croatia’s first big chance of the game up to this point, it came off of a combination of all of the things that Canada had struggled with up to that point. First, they lose their shape, as Stephen Eustáquio ends up pushing up to lead the press, leaving players to fill in behind him. Then, Canada ends up leaving big gaps in their midfield four, allowing Croatia to play right through them. Then, with Canada’s back four also too staggered, that allows Croatia to play a pass in behind, one that almost leads to a goal, if not for a great save from Milan Borjan.
And that leads to Croatia’s goal, less than a minute later.
The biggest takeaway from the goal? It only took Croatia two passes (and about 4 touches) to score from the position below. Yet, this just shows the impact that Canada’s inability to keep their shape had on their ability to try and hold onto their lead.
*Inserts John Herdman yelling ‘SHAPE’ somewhere in here*
Hopefully Cyle Larin can get more minutes for Club Brugge post-World Cup. A lethal finisher, and a fun player to watch get involved in the build-up when healthy, he probably helps Canada break Croatia’s line here when in-form. Unfortunately, he hesitates and then his touch betrays him, allowing Croatia to break away in transition.
For how good Hutchinson was on the ball, however, here’s a case towards why Canada might’ve been better off playing him in a midfield three. Not only would that have given him more options to play with in the build-up, but it also would’ve meant that he didn’t have to push up as high as he does here to support Jonathan David, a move that backfires as David is then dispossessed, leaving Mateo Kovačić to run at Hutchinson. Considering Kovačić was gliding past everyone in this game, that was never going to be a race Hutchinson was going to win, especially not as a 39-year-old in just his fourth game of 2022-2023. Yet, that shows why it’s so important to limit transition moments like those whenever possible, a feeling Kamal Miller best sums up with his “keep the f***ing ball” that he screams at his teammates towards the end of the clip.
A huge bright spot in this game? The play of 20-year-old, Ismaël Koné. Brought in at half time to replace an ailing Stephen Eustáquio, he once again thrived in midfield for Canada. With his unique combination of technical ability, soccer IQ and physical tools, he helped Canada’s play on the ball big time in the second half. Just look at the way he was able to shrug off one of the best midfielders in the world, and former Ballon D’Or winner, Luka Modrić, to jumpstart a counter-attack on this play. Sequences like this shows why it’s only a matter of when, not if, that he nets CF Montréal a healthy transfer fee with a big move to Europe. Wild to think that he’s as young as he is, as he certainly doesn’t lack experience in the way that he plays on the ball.
Modrić *did* get Koné back with a nice turn of his own later on, though. Shows one area where the youngster is still improving, which is on the defensive side of things. Also, this clip further highlights Canada’s shape woes, as Kramarić was left wide-open for a great chance after no one tracked his run into the middle.
If Jonathan Osorio hadn’t played so little in the last few months, I do wonder if he would’ve started this game. His ability to find space in the midfield would’ve been crucial for Canada, while allowing them to play a midfield trio. Him making runs like this to stretch Croatia’s lines and create a good shot at goal certainly lends credence to that idea.
Here’s another example of Osorio finding space, as he runs into a pocket just off of Davies after a great Koné ball, but Davies, still growing into his eventual #8 phase, doesn’t find him with the one touch pass. Shows Osorio’s ability to find space, though.
Yes, a turnover ultimately led to Croatia then scoring their third goal in the 70th minute , but arguably this was the far more egregious error on Kramarić’s eventual goal - the fact that no one picked him up despite how wide-open he was on the play. Just look at him (he is the one with his hand up), as he is left wide-open as Buchanan failed to track back (he was playing left back here), and Kamal Miller forgot to fill in to cover for Buchanan. That’ll be one that the Canadian back four will want to forget.
This clip has it all - Ismaël Koné flying through the gears and playing a line-breaking pass, and Jonathan Osorio finding space and playing a near-perfect through ball. Moments like this shows why an Osorio-Koné-Eustáquio trio could be so fascinating to look at for Canada post-World Cup.
And because why not, here’s more Ismaël Koné.
Ultimately, however, all of this shows what Canada struggled with most in this game.
They weren’t as bad as the scoreline suggested, as the shots were only 12-10 for Croatia, who narrowly edged the xG 1.5-0.4, but Croatia exposed Canada’s shape woes, and did well to keep Canada quiet, except for the few times that they bypassed their midfield press.
Yet, that just shows the margins at this level, and the sort of things that Canada will have to be careful of in future big games, especially as they continue their tactical evolution as a team.
(Photo via Canada Soccer - Beau Chevalier/Tagwa Moyo)