Al Ahly: Winning the striker v. defender duel

In Rondón, Pachuca have a player of many strengths. He can hold the ball up and bring his team-mates into the game; he possesses the speed and timing to run the channels, despite being 35 years of age; and most importantly, and proven by him being Venezuela’s all-time top scorer with 45 goals, he can convert his chances. During the FIFA Challenge Cup™ game at Doha’s Stadium 974, Al Ahly’s ability to keep Rondón under control was an integral part of them keeping Pachuca’s broader attacking threat at bay. In this article, Technical Study Group member Aron Winter reveals how Al Ahly's centre-backs neutralised Rondón in their decisive duels and helped keep the scoreline goalless for 120 minutes.

The Pachuca long ball into Rondón (9) became a key feature of the FIFA Challenge Cup. Whether out of choice or because of Al Ahly's aggressive positioning during the Mexican side's goal kicks and build-up, these direct passes into the striker asked constant questions from Al Ahly’s centre-back pairing, Ramy Rabia (5) and Yasser Ibrahim (6). Winter explains that the duo's ability to work together and delegate roles was paramount in winning duels against Rondón.

“The way they eliminated the striker [Rondón] was exceptional. Considering how heavily involved Rondón was in the previous game against Botafogo, this match had a big difference. Altogether, he received perhaps three possibilities to get into a scoring position, but most of the time, the defenders did a great job of eliminating him. In the clip below, you can see how Al Ahly has forced the opponent to play long from the goal kick instead of building up. The collaboration between Rabia and Yasser was excellent: Yasser always marked Rondón tight, whereas Rabia would cover the space behind his team-mate.”

Metrics from FIFA’s Football Performance Insights reinforce Rondón’s involvement in these duels and Winter’s assessment of the Al Ahly centre-back paring being able to manage them. Rondón participated in more aerial duels than any other player, but out of the ten he engaged in, Pachuca retained possession just three times. The number of “pushing-ons” (when a player presses an opponent who does not have the ball) performed by each centre-back also reflects the roles they adopted, as described by Winter. With 34 pushing-ons, Yasser was the player assigned to stay tight with Rondón, as seen in Clip 1, while his team-mate Rabia’s low tally of seven pushing-ons aligns with the idea that he was the player that covered the space behind Rondón and Yasser.

On occasions where only one centre-back could engage Rondón, Al Ahly players from other positions would support in assuming the role of covering the space behind the contest. This happened when balls were played into Rondón in the inside-left or inside-right channels, locations too far from the centre of the pitch for a second centre-back to get involved.

“In Clip 2, Rondón gets the ball out wide and Yasser engages him. The right full-back, Omar Kamal, notices there is a lot of space between where the duel is taking place and the second centre-back, so he decides to cover in order to close the area. Clip 3 is a similar situation. Whenever Rondón received the ball near Kamal, Kamal would ensure at least one spare player was covering the space, helping the central defender and essentially making it a 2v1 situation,” explains Winter.

Team structure
Despite their consistent performance throughout the game, there were occasions where the two Al Ahly centre-backs could not dispossess Rondón when he received the ball. However, even when the centre-back pairing was unsuccessful, Al Ahly’s organisation and ability to keep their team structure provided an additional obstacle for Rondón to have a meaningful impact. The entire Al Ahly team was quick to recover into their team shape when a long ball was played into the Pachuca frontman, suffocating the space available to Rondón from all angles. Should Rondón shirk Yasser’s pressure by retreating with the ball towards his own goal, Al Ahly midfielders would intervene timely to prevent any form of attacking play. Central midfielder, Marwan Attia (13), demonstrates this in Clip 4.

As a team’s last line of defence, a centre-back pairing specialises in mitigating risk. For Winter, “what the centre-backs were doing really well was taking care that Rondón could only play with his back to goal. As soon as the striker got the ball, Yasser or Rabia would be in his back, denying him the chance to turn." By doing this, Al Ahly denied Pachuca more generally the opportunity to attack the space behind the defence. Nevertheless, the centre-backs at times momentarily lost Rondón.

“The clip below shows one of the few moments the striker did have a chance to turn with the ball and run towards goal. You can see as soon as he gets in these situations how dangerous he is as he gets a shot away. Despite the dangerous situation, the two centre-backs stuck to their principles of one staying tight and the other covering his partner and blocking the shot,” stresses Winter.

Of the 19 offers in behind Rondón made against Al Ahly, the Venezuelan striker received the ball on only three occasions. His low reception rate is a testament to the coordination of Yasser and Rabia; in the three instances he did control the ball, the pair still stuck to their principles, maintained composure and demonstrated the defensive grit needed to neutralise the threat.

• Centre-backs must coordinate their defensive actions when playing against a striker with pace and power. Having one defender engage the attacker in individual duels and the other cover the space behind is an effective way to mitigate the striker’s threat.

• There will be situations where the lone striker will receive the ball in locations where only one centre-back is present. In these scenarios, other defending players need to assume the role of covering the space behind the duel.

• A team’s shape plays a role in negating dangerous opposition players. If a team is quick to recover their structure when out of possession, they create obstacles for an opposition striker by reducing the space they have to operate in.

• The best way to inhibit the pace and power of this type of striker is to prevent them from facing and running at your goal. If the striker does get into this promising situation, the principles of one player going tight with him and another covering still apply.

Pachuca will face Real Madrid on Wednesday for a chance to win the FIFA Intercontinental Cup. Both Technical Study Group members shared their thoughts on the match-up ahead of the final:

Aron Winter: I don’t think this will be an easy game for Real Madrid, considering the two performances Pachuca put together so far. An important area of the game for Real will be when they recover the ball, as they will look to maximise the attacking transition and exploit the space behind Pachuca’s defensive line. They key battle will be in midfield. As we saw in their game against Bogafoto, Pachuca’s midfield pairing of Elías Montiel and Pedro Pedraza have dynamism and tactical awareness – it will be interesting to see how they compete against Luka Modrić and Jude Bellingham. It will also be intriguing to see how Real’s centre-backs navigate the physical battle posed by Rondón.

Pascal Zuberbühler: I am interested to see how Pachuca goalkeeper Carlos Moreno will try and build up play against Real Madrid. Will Pachuca continue to play direct to Rondón, as they did against Al Ahly, or will they try and build out from the back? Moreno will need a strong performance, as it’s reasonable to expect that with the firepower in Real’s squad that they will get their attempts on goal. Deciding whether to defend his goal or defend the space around the goal will be key for Moreno. In regards to Real Madrid’s goalkeepers, Thibaut Courtois is one of the most complete Number 1s in world football. The improvement he’s made over the last two or three years with his distribution has been huge. The Belgian also has expert positioning, allowing him to make the right decision during crucial moments. In Andriy Lunin Real Madrid have a solid second goalkeeper. Should he start, his power and explosivity will prove useful for Los Blancos.