The final league fixture of 2019-20 Martyr’s Memorial A Division League saw Tribhuvan Army Club go head to head with Machhindra Football Club. Army were top of the league table just a point above Machhindra, making the match a virtual title decider and providing a fitting end to the 43rd top-flight season in Nepal.
At the end of a very closely contested 90 minutes, Machhindra were crowned champions with a narrow 1-0 win. Army’s Bikash Tamang netted the ball in his own team’s net to hand Machhindra their first A division title in history.
It proved to be a very good tactical contest. A refreshing sight indeed as the likes of such tactical displays are still rarities in Nepalese football. Here’s a tactical analysis of the match and how Machhindra emerged victorious.
The formations
The Tribhuvan Army club started the match at the top of the table only needing a draw to seal the crown. They were the favorites to win as they hadn’t yet tasted defeat in the season. At the end of the 90 minutes, however, they fell just short of the Invincible Champions tag.
They initially set up with a 4-4-2 wide formation. Although, multiple times during attacks, they converted into 4-3-3.
Their opponents, Machhindra, too were flexible with their set-up. Starting with a 4-4-2 which later evolved into a centrally dominating 4-2-3-1.
Army’s Quick Counters
Army’s attack was a mixture of counter-attack and width creation leading to numerous crosses from both the flanks. Bharat Khawas and Nawayug Shrestha’s pace was key to their system. Here, we can see George Prince Karki serving up a dangerous cross to Bharat Khawas at the end of one of their counters.
Both the forwards were making the runs between the lines on every possible occasion. Bikash Khawas, playing as a left center-back, was the one who initiated most of the attacks, providing many long balls from the back to both the forwards waiting to make the runs.
Army were also very swift during transitions. It didn’t take long for them to shift from defense to attack. Here’s an example showcasing just that.
Army’s defense was quick to win the ball in their half and as soon as they won the ball, all the players ahead got into attacking positions and started to make runs. It led to another one of their classic counter-attacks.
Machhindra’s effective delays
Machhindra’s defense was more than up to the task on the opposing half. They opted for a back four with a double pivot screening them upfront.
The two midfielders were key to their defense as well as attack. They were ones who completed interceptions, broke the transitions, and initiated transitions for Machhindra. They were able to do so quite efficiently as they focused on zonal marking rather than man marking. By marking zonally and blocking passing channels, Machhindra’s defense and midfield prevented Army from making multiple progressive line-breaking passes that would have initiated a counter-attack.
As a result, Army were mostly left with no other options than passing sideways or backward.
When Army were counter-attacking, Machhindra’s defense was pretty smart to deal with it too. Rather than going in for an early challenge, they delayed the attack, allowing other players to cover their lost ground and get back in positions.
Here, Devendra Tamang succeeded in delaying Tek Bahadur Budhathoki’s run, and by the time Budhathoki crossed the ball Machhindra’s defense had covered lost ground and defended the cross successfully.
We can see it again with Nawyug Shrestha’s run below:
By delaying the attack and waiting for the challenge they were able to defend a certain goal-scoring opportunity.
Army’s spatial overhauls
Army had an all-out defensive approach which was key to winning the balls in the midfield and creating a quick progression for the counter-attack. They relied heavily on man-marking and contesting for balls everywhere on the pitch.
Army’s fullbacks were both defensive-minded and rarely made progressive runs. This resulted in Machhindra’s attack creating absolutely no width while going forward. Ultimately, they were left with no option and had to attack centrally. Even then, Army’s midfield was overloading the channels and was able to limit goal-scoring chances to a larger extent.
We can see how Army’s defense blocked the central channel by overloading the area. This phase shows seven Army players defending centrally.
Machhindra’s Space Creation
Machhindra’s way of dealing with Army’s defense was pretty simple but lacked execution. Every time Army’s defenders lunged in for a challenge while they were on the ball, they waited for the challenge and allowed the opponents to create spaces. With frequent overlapping moves, it became pretty easy to exploit the spaces. For example, Bishal Rai creates space behind the Army players by drawing them and allows Ranjit Dhimal to make the run utilizing that same space in the instance below:
The move followed with the following action:
In the instance above, Santosh Tamang was able to draw two defenders towards him. It created a huge space behind them which was utilized by Machhindra but they failed to generate a shot from it in the end. It showed their lack of potency in and around the box.
However, their attack only seemed limited to only creating spaces, as they were incapable of creating many goal scoring opportunities. It was partly because their attack did not create any width even when Army’s defense offered spaces wide. And they lacked the creativity to progress the ball centrally.
The title-deciding goal
With both the teams, neutralizing each other’s attack, there were very few major goal-scoring opportunities coming in from open play. Both the teams had combined three shots on target from open play in the entire match. A goal from a set-piece looked like an only way through. And so it happened. The only goal of the match came from a juicy free-kick by Ranjit Dhimal that was headed in by Bikash Tamang in his own team’s net.
Conclusion
It was a match that saw two different tactics clash with each other and more or less either one was able to neutralize the other. Effectively, the game was played mostly in the middle third and ended up in the middle third. Army’s lightning-quick counter-attacks were blocked by organized and sensible defending from Machhindra. Army’s man-marking and central overload was enough to contain Machhindra’s central approach.