Fluminense use possession game to book Club World Cup final berth

Our Technical Study Group (TSG) is on-site in Jeddah and has attended all of the competition’s games so far. In this article, we take a closer look at some of the key technical and tactical characteristics of Fluminense ahead of their clash with the UEFA Champions. 

A standout feature of Fluminense’s in-possession game is their commitment to building play from the back. Even late in the game, when they were just 1-0 up in their semi-final, they remained fully committed to their build-up style. In that game, they completed 89.6% of their attempted passes in the defensive third, which was significantly higher than Al Ahly’s 73%. 

An interesting feature of the Fluminense build-up was the lack of goalkeeper Fábio’s (1) involvement – even when the team were building play from their own penalty area. Instead, and as demonstrated by clip 1 below, centre midfielder André (7) consistently dropped deep to assume a central role in his team’s build-ups. In total, 73% of the midfielder’s 109 receptions came in front of the opposition team shape. This was 21 more times than the second-highest ranked player of the match, showing his heavy involvement during build-up phases.  

Fluminense tended to progress the ball by heavily overloading one side of the pitch and circulating or switching possession quickly to the opposite wing. In doing this, they were looking to shift Al Ahly and open gaps in their defensive structure. As we see in the graphic below, 43% of the South American side’s attempted line breaks were through Al Ahly’s team shape and 40% were around it.     

The success Fluminense found by shifting the ball from one wing to another is evidenced by 62% of their final-third entries coming from the outside channels; the left-outside channel proved a particularly fruitful route to more dangerous areas of the pitch, with 39% of Flu’s final third entries coming from this one side. With only 46% of their final-third entries stemming from wide areas, Al Ahly’s success in progressing the ball through the wings was more limited. 

According to TSG member Christian Gross, “Fluminense displayed intelligence and game awareness when looking to play forward. As we see in clip 2 below, by using a combination of wide area overloads and diagonal switches they were able to move and open spaces in Al Ahly’s defensive shape. Centre midfielder André was a key orchestrator of their successful build-up play. His passing accuracy and ability to break lines meant he had a huge influence on this game, particularly when his team were looking to progress the ball.” 

The performance data concurs with these observations as André completed an impressive 96.4% of his 112 pass attempts. This is higher than any other player who started the match. In addition, he received the ball 81 times inside of the opposition team shape, 21 times more than the next highest player. He also completed more line-breaking passes (15) than any other player and 73% of his completed line breaks (11) were through the opposition team shape. 

When Fluminense did not have the ball in this game, they displayed a willingness to press aggressively in advanced areas of the pitch. Assuming a 4-4-2 out-of-possession shape, the workload and intentions of their two forward players and two wide midfielders were crucial in preventing Al Ahly from progressing the ball from their defenders to their midfielders.

These four players applied the most pressure in the match for Fluminense:

• Right midfielder Jhon Arias: 34 pressures 

• Forward Ganso: 31 pressures

• Forward Germán Cano: 19 pressures

• Left midfielder Keno: 16 pressures

In clip 3 and clip 4 below, we see how hard Ganso (10) and Cano (14) work to prevent the centre-backs from progressing the ball centrally, while a pass to either of Al Ahly’s full-backs triggers an immediate and aggressive press from Fluminense’s wide midfielders Arias (21), who played on the right, and Keno (11), who played on the left. The intense nature of the pressure also protects against any delivery of quality balls over the top. It also worth noting that in clip 3 we see an example of how Fluminense’s out-of-possession team length is 40m, which is considered quite long, and is perhaps further evidence of their desire to protect their defensive line from being turned.

Fluminense goalkeeper Fábio is a hugely experienced player. He has played over 70 games for his current side since joining in 2022. Before joining his current club, the 43-year-old made 579 appearances over 16 years for fellow Série A side Cruzeiro. Fábio’s experience extends to the highest levels of South American club football too, being the only Brazilian player to have played in the Copa Libertadores 100 times and the oldest player to reach the final and win.

According to Pascal Zuberbühler, “Fábio is a very impressive goalkeeper, and he is in top physical and mental condition. In the semi-final against Al Ahly, he made six saves to keep a clean sheet and has a distinct technique that he has perfected when he is defending his goal.

“In clip 5, we see how he retreats closer to his goal line as the counter-attack advances and gets into the set position after his step back. His position, strength and reaction are very sharp as he gets down low quickly to make an important save.

“In clip 6, again he retreats as the counter-attack progresses. Notice how he takes a step back as soon as the lofted cross is played but he is already in the set position and able to react quickly to block Hussein El Shahat’s (14) bullet header with a great reaction save. By retreating like this, he gives himself a fraction more time and this is a technique he has mastered,” he added.

In the semi-final, Fábio had a lower goalkeeper line height than Al Ahly counterpart Mohamed Elshenawy (1) when out of possession. This allowed the Fluminense goalkeeper to retreat to his goal line quicker and increased the time he had to react to shots. The 43-year-old had an out-of-possession line height of 9.6m, compared to Elshenawy’s 11m. This was also apparent when isolating the low-block phase, where he had a line height of 3.6m compared to 4.5m for his opposite number. 

Fluminense take on Manchester City in the FIFA Club World Cup Saudi Arabia 2023™ final on Friday 22^nd December in the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, with a 21:00 kick-off (local time) and will be streamed live on FIFA+.