Copa America 2024 Tactics: The counterpressing secrets of the top group stage performers – scout report

Reigning FIFA World Cup champions Argentina demolished Copa América Group A, winning all three of their group stage games, impressively scoring five goals and conceding zero.

The latter statistic is the one we’re going to be focusing more on in this tactical analysis piece and team-focused scout report analysing Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina, along with two other sides who have, thus far, performed very well in the USA-hosted tournament and all but secured their place in the knockout stages after playing just two games at the time of writing — Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay and Néstor Lorenzo’s Colombia.

Just as Argentina did, Uruguay and Colombia have both won each of their first two group stage games, with an intriguing, high-stakes clash with the United States and a mouthwatering showdown for Group D supremacy all that remains for Uruguay and Colombia, respectively, before the Copa América quarter-finals commence.

Argentina are the only side to go through the group stage without conceding a single goal, but despite not keeping a perfect defensive record like La Albiceleste, both Colombia and Uruguay have also stood out with their solid out-of-possession performances so far, with both sides conceding just once in their opening two games.

The underlying numbers reflect the defensive solidity displayed by both sides. Although Argentina managed to keep three clean sheets in the group stage, they allowed their opponents to generate 2.0 xG against them in their three group games.

At present, Colombia have conceded just 1.07 xG in two group stage games, though that could rise considerably in their final Group D clash with Brazil. At the same time, Uruguay boast the lowest xGA in the tournament after their first two group stage games, having conceded just 0.46 xGA against Panama and Bolivia, accumulatively.

For all three of these sides who have managed to give a very good account of themselves in Copa América 2024 thus far, counterpressing has been a key aspect of their defensive solidity and an area of their overall tactics which has stood out as a big positive. This tactical analysis piece will, thus, go into detail on one or two aspects of each team’s counterpressing game, highlighting a principle that they’ve showcased to a high level in this tournament so far.

Argentina

In three group stage games, Argentina made 31 high regains, 17 dangerous recoveries, and 47 counterpressing recoveries, equalling 10.33 high regains, 5.67 dangerous recoveries, and 15.67 counterpressing recoveries per match.

After playing three group stage games, Argentina’s PPDA sits at 6.89 — the second-lowest of any side in the competition, with most others having played just two games at the time of writing.

Within Scaloni’s counterpressing tactics, Argentina’s forwards have played a vital role in ensuring that the team effectively cuts the pitch in half, limiting the amount of space the opposition has to play out of pressure and get the ball moving forward.