FIFA World Cup 2022: How Spain fluidity through the lines comfortably won against Costa Rica – tactical analysis

After the rain of criticism for his style of management of the National Team, in addition to the player list that generated too much debate within the Spanish population, Luis Enrique and his united group showed their World Cup rivals that they are ready for battle, with youth, experience and a lot of enthusiasm, the team of the former manager of Barcelona was able to overwhelm Costa Rica 7-0, their largest result in the history of the World Cup.

On the other hand, Costa Rica, with their low block that gave it solidity and a lot of coordination in the preparatory matches prior to the World Cup, where they grabbed victories against teams like the United States at the World Cup qualifications, showed a very broad fragility, probably the weakest and most breakable block of the entire tournament, which so far has had many solid teams, that have kept clean sheets or have put a lot of stress on teams that seek to be more mobile with the ball and have it longer than they do. However, the CONCACAF team was the opposite and Spain knocked it down very easily.

The match took place, for the most part, in Costa Rica’s third, with Spain that dominated possession with 82%, making 976 passes with an overall accuracy of 94% inside those passes, while Luis Fernando Suárez’s side, only executed 165 passes, which 71% of the times reached their destination. A fairly large statistical difference that only indicates the Spanish dominance, which, as many coaches like to say, defended themselves in the best way, having the ball.

In this tactical analysis, we dive into the tactics of both teams and see how Luis Enrique’s Spain not only ended the game with a victory against Costa Rica, but they were by large, the most comfortable team in the tournament in terms of what they were doing with the ball, and obviously as well as scoring goals because of the seven and how they were brilliantly scored.

Lineups

Luis Enrique decided on his traditional 4-3-3 that he has applied to all the teams he has been to. Athletic Bilbao‘s Unai Simón was chosen in goal, with César Azpilicueta as the right-back in a deeper role, accompanied by Jordi Alba on the left lane, and Aymeric Laporte with Rodri as centre-backs. Sergio Busquets, who was in his prime back again, commanded a full midfield of Barcelona players, along with Gavi and Pedri.

In order to finish the attack, Ferrán Torres played on the right wing, Marco Asensio as a false 9 and Dani Olmo on the left, who was much more mobile from the outside to inside.

Costa Rica also decided on its traditional 4-4-2 formation that the Colombian coach, Luis Fernando Suárez, has accommodated in his team. Keylor Navas, the captain and inexhaustible player of the team, was the goalkeeper once again, with a back-four in defence with Bryan Oviedo and Carlos Martínez as the full-backs, and the tough Francisco Calvo and Oscar Duarte in the centre. The midfield formed a double pivot with Celso Borges and Yeltsin Tejeda, with fast and dizzying wide players like Keysher Fuller and Jewison Bennette. Completing the attack was the young Anthony Contreras and the fast and former Arsenal player Joel Campbell.

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