Last Monday Holland played the semi-final of the world cup. Uruguay was the last obstacle on the way to the final. I want to talk about the important role of the midfield when playing a 4-3-3 formation.
Holland started with the same formation as they every match did this WC. Only the line-up was slighty different because of two suspensions. Boularhouz played instead of van der Wiel and de Zeeuw played instead of de Jong. This way the defensive block of 6 players was complete again. Up front were the three attacking midfielders and the striker.
When you put 2 central defensive midfielders right in front of the defense, it's hard to keep possession and play attacking football. It's hard because when they recieve the ball, there are no option's ahead, they only see the way back. This caused problems in the first half. Holland could not create any chances, the 1-0 was a rather lucky strike from van Bronkhorst. Uruguay are the lesser team and also had trouble creating chances. Forlan did the same as van Bronkhorst and put the ball in the back of the net with a shot from distance.
The second half became very interesting. De Zeeuw went off having an injury and van der Vaart came in. With van der Vaart there were now 2 players in the midfield who can distribute passes anywhere on the pitch. After a couple of minutes the block of 2 defensive midfielders was gone. Van Bommel played behind van der Vaart and Sneijder. This way they played with 3 central midfielders against 2 from Uruguay. Holland took possession of the ball and scored twice, game over. Uruguay did a little something back in injury time but it wasn't enough, Holland through to the final!
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