Kashima Antlers at the FIFA Club World Cup: 2016
J league side Kashima Antlers have appeared at the FIFA Club World Cup twice in recent years, in 2016 in Japan and 2018 in the United Arab Emirates. This article will focus on their first appearance at the tournament in 2016. Their entry at the tournament came in fortuitous circumstances. They entered the tournament as the host’s representative after winning the 2016 J league championship. As the hosting team, their path in the tournament would begin in a play-off against OFC Champions League winner Auckland City. After beating the New Zealand side, victories against Maledowni Sundowns and Atletico Nacional set up a final against Real Madrid. Although finishing 2–2, Los Blancos were able to go ahead in extra-time, with the game ending 4–2 and earning their 2nd Club World Cup title at the time.
In this article, the focus will be on tactical elements across all Kashima’s games at the tournament in 2016. While only a small sample size of games, the article will focus attention on the common themes of their playing style throughout the tournament. Also of interest are how these themes varied through the context of the games, where changes occur in games when the team was more proactive (play-off and quarter-final), and when the team was more reactive in nature (semi-final and final).
System
Throughout the tournament, Kashima used a standard GK-4–4–2 shape when in and out of possession. Differences came from the personnel used in each game. The main changes throughout the tournament came in the centre of midfield and on the left side. The combination of Ryoto Nagaki and Mitsuo Ogasawara was used in both their opening game and the final. For the quarter- and semi-final, both played with Gaku Shibasaki: Nagaki in the quarters and Ogasawara in the semis. Shibasaki featured in all games, playing as the left midfielder for 2 games, with Atsutaka Nakamura playing there in the other two. The use of Mu Kanazaki was also of interest, making substitute appearances in all games leading to the final, scoring 2 goals (coincidentally both in the 88th minute of games) and assisting another. This lead to a starting berth in the final, where he did not score either of Kashima’s goals.
Attacking Strategy
Wide build up
In possession, one of the most common themes during the tournament was how Kashima’s build up and progression of the ball was focused through wide areas. This can be understood due to the structure the team used. Using a 4–4–2 shape, there are naturally two wide players on each side. Also, with a wide midfielder being positioned slightly deeper than that of a right winger (in a 4–3–3 as an example), this creates a greater distance for an opposing full back to have to move to pressure or mark this player. This could then create the potential of an opening either in the wide space through a combination or penetration between opposing centre- and full back.
The strategy from Kashima also allowed for additional players to support in the wide build up. A forward was able to move into the wide channel to exploit the space vacated by the full back to receive the ball behind the defensive line or drop into either wide or the half space to support combinations in the build up. Shoma Doi was particularly adept at this, throughout the tournament using dropping movements to help support the midfield and help create additional overloads in the wide spaces.
In order to penetrate through this wide build up, two main variations were used. These were 1) use of overlapping and underlapping movements from full backs and 2) combinations between full back, wide midfielder, central midfielders and forwards. These combinations were used to either play quickly through a large number of players behind the ball with the opposition defending deep or to play around quick pressure on the ball from more experienced teams. In the below video example you can see how these themes were utilised predominately on the right side.
Counter Attacks
As the tournament progressed, Kashima utilised more of a counter-counter-attacking approach to get behind the opposition defensive line. This was in part due to their struggles with breaking down more organised opposition. An example of these issues can be seen in the game v Maledowni Sundowns. In the first half alone, Kashima fail to have any shot, let alone on target.
In only one of their four games did they out posses the opposition (v Auckland City), meaning a counter-attacking approach was more applicable to the context of the game. This approach could also be understood due to the nature of tournament football. Not only would Kashima be facing stronger opponents as the tournament went on, but the emphasis on ‘not losing’ could outweigh the desire to win.
While in the early games there was a purpose to build-up and progress the ball more, in the semi-final v Atletico Nacional and final v Real Madrid there was more of an intent to move the ball forward as quickly as possible and penetrate behind the defensive line. Upon winning the ball, either one of the wide midfielders could make a diagonal movement to try and receive centrally or the forwards could receive the ball and look to attack at speed. The forwards would often position wide or in the half space to use the additional space provided by the advancing opposition full backs.
Chance Creation
With their focus more on build up and attacking through wide areas, the chances that were created often originated from these areas of the field. Either through their combination play or via a counter attack, once penetrating the opposition defensive line, there were 2 common trends of attack form Kashima: 1) a deep cross to the far post to either the ball-far wide midfielder or one of the forwards and 2) working against the dynamics of the defensive line closing in on the goal, using a cutback for an open forward or midfielder to shoot.
Deep Cross
The use of a deep cross to the far post was used in a variety of ways. One of the main uses was to play to the ball-far side midfielder or forward. Should they be in a good position, they would be able to have a goal scoring attempt, either through a header or volley. Alternatively, the cross could be used to work against the dynamics of the defence. Having drawn the opposition’s attention (and subsequent movements) towards the ball to stop a shot on goal, a teammate could position to receive a pass from the player at the far post. Due to the difficulty in changing direction quickly, this would give the central player additional time to convert this pass.
Cutback
Similarly, working against the defensive dynamics of the opposition, a cutback could also be used. With the defensive line moving towards their own goal in order to cover this optimal space, the space away from the goal (the edge of the box or just inside) could be exploited. By having either a midfielder of forward position here, (as mentioned above) it becomes difficult for opposing defenders to change their direction quickly and offers the receiving player additional space and time to shoot. This is something that needs to be co-ordinated between the attacking players. If all make this movement/take up this position, then there is no need for the defensive line to drop as it has become too predictable. If all make the movement towards the goal, it again becomes predictable for the opposition, whilst also neglecting a large amount of space that has been created in an area where space is vital.
Out of Possession
As mentioned above, with the nature of tournament football, and having the lesser share of possession in the majority of games, the way in which the team defended was of paramount importance. Interestingly, while giving up a large number of shots up to the final (14 v Maledowni Sundowns, 24 v Atletico Nacional), they only conceded once, v Auckland City (Apologies as I do not have the expected goals values for these games). This somewhat evens out in the final where Real Madrid scored four times from 30 attempts.Wide
Wide Midfield Pressure
In their opening game, Auckland City utilised a structure where all three of the central midfielders would occupy spaces between defenders. This would often leave a large, unoccupied space in the centre of the field. To avoid the central midfielders moving out of position to cover these players, the the wide midfielders would cover the wider dropping central midfielders, leaving the full backs to pressure the opposition full backs when necessary. Thus, the central midfielders could cover this unoccupied central space, screening any penetrative passes. The two forwards would then cover the three deepest central players.
This varied from other games where it was often the wide midfielders responsibility to pressure the opposition full backs. This can be seen in the example below v Atletico Nacional. With their full backs sitting deeper in build up, the left and right midfielder were required to move into the same line as the forwards to pressure the full backs. The space around the ball would be covered by the rest of the midfield shifting across to provide cover and balance.
Defensive Underload in Central Midfield
With the left and right midfield often tasked with covering the full backs, this would often leave the centre midfielders outnumbered when defending against a 3-man midfield. In both the semi-final and final, Kashima used a number of different defensive variations based on the opposition’s tendencies to help deal with this underload. Vs Atletico Nacional, the ball-far side forward would drop to cover the deepest of the midfield 3. This allowed the two central midfielders to maintain their shape, as well as being able to cover the opposition’s other two midfielders when necessary. This would leave the ball-far side centre back as the open player.
In the early stages of the game vs Real Madrid, Shibasaki (as the left midfielder) would track the movements of the nearest midfielder to his position (in this example, Luka Modric) while the central midfielders would have access to Madrid’s other two midfielders (Casemiro and Toni Kroos). This movement would often leave the ball-far full back open, deciding that this is a less dangerous threat and if organised enough, the midfield would be able to shift accordingly to stop any forward progression should the ball be switched.
As the game wore on and Kashima looked to stop Madrid scoring a decisive winner, the two central midfielders would often be positioned deeper to help deny access to space between the lines. This often meant that they both would drop to cover the furthest midfielder forward. With Casemiro positioning deeper to allow the full backs to advance, the two forwards would cover him as well as the centre backs. This meant that while the most dangerous threat was covered, would often leave the ball-far centre midfield open, although again, the discipline of the midfield line to shift across accordingly could help deny penetration.
1v1 Defending
Coming up against stronger opposition forwards in the closing stages of the tournament, it was key that the defensive line could withstand high-level players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. While they may have not been able to completely stop them from creating scoring opportunities, it was key that they could make it as difficult as possible. When defending 1v1 it was paramount that the defending player remained on their feet, slowing down the opposing player and avoiding committing to challenge for the ball. In doing so, while they would not gain possession of the ball or stop the opposition from maintaining possession, they could stop any forward progression from the player and allow teammates to either regain position of provide additional support in defending the player.
In the above example, Cristiano Ronaldo is able to receive in a position where he can attack the centre back (Naomichi Ueda) in a 1v1 scenario. Due to the individual defending skills of Ueda, he is able to stop Ronaldo from getting past him, while also allowing teammates to recover and then support the defensive action. Eventually, Ronaldo has to play a backwards pass to maintain possession where Kashima can re-organise their defensive shape to make it difficult for Real Madrid to break through.
Although entering the tournament at the earliest stage, Kashima were able to make it all the way to the final, taking Real Madrid to extra time. While finishing runners up, Shibasaki would finish third in the golden ball (player of the tournament) and the side would earn the fair play award. Their run would also bring an increased spotlight on Japanese club football. This would not be the end of their season, as later in the month they would win the emperor’s cup for the fifth time with a 2–1 extra time win over Kawasaki Frontale.