Interview about the Chilean 442CA

Here is an interview with the National Coach of Chile, Frano_Battousai (1177705) about how he managed to win the World Cup playing 442CA most of the time.

442CA in general

- When your Community first started the actual training plan, the 442 CA was intended to be the base strategy to beat the top teams or did you see something on the way that made you change your original plan toward this 442 CA?

The origin of 442 CA wasn’t from our previous training plan (the current one is used since four months ago). The idea to use this lineup comes from a former Chile NT Coach: Felipe_Martinez (3794919) during the World Cup XIX. For that reason, in our country is called “FM Style” or “442 FM”.

Since then, 442 CA has been a great option to use against stronger teams or when we wanted to play PIC against a sure PIN/MOTS from the rival.

- Do you see any breakpoint in the past where the road to these 2 WC golds first began?

Yes, the breakpoint happened in WC XIV, when Chile got its first medal (bronze).
Tranoso (1505570) was the Chile NT Coach in than moment and he arranged a new way to work with the NT. The analysis, numbers, coordination with scouts, training plan, and the use of Google Docs took a new importance and I think that those aspects were the base for getting the 2 WC Golds.

After him, TituladoBugnosSchool (4704242) had the job and with a lot of dedication and hard work, he was able not only to win the first non-European Gold in WC XVII, but also to reunite a divided Community.

It really was a great experience to have been in that staff and I learnt a lot of that “work style”. I’m sure that we won this second Gold because we continueto do things in that way and we’ve been improving the weak spots to keep advancing.

- If you would be the National Coach of a bigger country, like Spain, Italy or Sweden, would you still use the 442 as a base formation?

I don’t think so, but I’d definitely use it in some point of the WC.

- Do you think that any selection, using the same 4-4-2 CA, can win the World Cup as you did?

When we were in the last WC, we checked our rivals and with that information, I really doubt that any other NT could have gotten the Gold with our same formation.

- 442 CA is your base formation; you use it most of the time as a National Coach. But there must be circumstances when you prefer other formations. When is that?

Yes, of course I preferred other formations in several times. I remember the first match against Turkey (467483837) and the second one against Costa Rica (467483869), both from Round I. Considering the TS/TC, the agreement with Turkey and the obvious MOTS from Costa Rica, I would have preferred to set other lineup, but we couldn’t find any other that fits better for our objectives.

- What are the strong and weak spots of the Chilean 442?

The strengths of the 442 CA are its high level of defense and attack at the same time, without sacrificing the entire midfield sector, because the formation is capable to get a good percentage of possession.

The main weak spot is if a player is red-carded, the complete lineup falls apart, because every player is necessary in order to have the formation properly working. For this reason, you must sacrifice some slots in the Substitutions Tab to minimize this situation in case of happening.

- Do you use 442CA as often with your club as with the NT? If not, why not?

No, I don’t. I like the lineup, but my team hasn’t the players to use it (I’m in training process).

- Do you consider 442 a good base formation for clubs?

Yes, I do. It’s a good option, not only to win matches, but also it allows training different kind of players without sacrificing too much (Keepers, Defenders, Wingers, Forwards).


World cup

- What were the key matches in the past WC campaign?

The key matches were against Argentina in Round II (469959849), Bulgaria in Round IV (483697654), Denmark in Semi-Finals (484004877) and obviously Switzerland in the Final (484403483).

Facing Argentina, we chose to play 442 Normal (not CA), because we had the TS advantage and we believed in the CA of them. With that victory, we won our pass to Round III.

Against Bulgaria, only one of us could advance to the Semi-Finals and would achieve the medal. In that instance the “fight” for the midfield was the key and our estimations proved to be correct.

Denmark was the hardest rival of this group of NT. We reached the Semi-Finals with a disadvantage in TS and probably facing a team that had a deal with Spain that was confirmed later: both played MOTS in their matches of Semi-Finals. In that scenario, we had to trust in our defense, so the 442 CA “came to the rescue”. The match was only decided in extra time and our right attack gave us our second final in WC history.

Finally Switzerland, the favorite NT since the previous WC. This was the third match between us in the WC and no surprises left in each one side. Our 442 CA was obvious (despite we analyzed other lineups, none of them was satisfying for the staff) and we expected a 352 AoW, the same lineup that defeated us in Round IV. They used a 253 Normal and I liked what I saw: for me, they didn’t use their best lineup and that gave me hope that Chile could beat them for a final time. The final score was 1-5 and Chile was celebrating its second Gold medal!

- Do you remember a match that you couldn't decide if playing 442CA is the best option instead of a midfield based formation? If yes, talk about one match that you opted for 442CA and one that you didn't and why you ended up to this decision.

Yes, I remember that scenario and it happened in the first two matches against Switzerland.

The first match was in Round III (483046741) and happened when both teams were qualified to the next Round. With this information, it was obvious a PIC game for both sides. Besides, we had almost the same TS. So, we had to choose playing our well-known 442 CA or change the formation to a new one, picking the last option. We faced them with a 451 Normal (no CA), losing the possession in an acceptable percentage for us, with strong defense and one power side attack that could break a 352 or 253. We won that match 0-2.

The second match was in Round IV (483697652) and here both of us agreed to play PIC. In this match, the difference in midfield increased from last time in their favor, so we could reach an unsatisfactory possession playing as the previous game; hence we discarded the 451. Our 442 CA came back, but only to suffer in a tight duel that was decided for their good use of the tactic AoW. We lost that match 1-2.

- Did you expect to win the final with this tactic and do you think the result was fair or can it be attributed to the match engine tantrums?

Yes, we did. We played that match knowing that we put in game the best of the Chile NT and we had the chances to beat them, considering the previous victory and the tight defeat suffered using this same lineup.

About the result, I consider fair the outcome in terms of winning for us, but I consider that the score was exaggerated. 1-5 was too much and I think that 1-3 or 2-4 could be more realistic score. But analyzing the formations, tactics, substitutions, etc. I consider that Chile was the right winner of the WC.

- Did you expect Switzerland to play 253? When you saw it, what did you think?

No, we expected a 352 AoW, as they defeated us in Round IV. They had lost their 2 last matches using a 253 (WC XX final against Finland and in Round III against Chile), so we thought that they wouldn’t use it again in an important match.

When I saw it, I thought that they didn’t use their best lineup and sincerely, I liked it, because that increased the chances of Chile to winning the match. The offensive rates were great for us in both side attacks and our defenses were a lot higher compared the shown for HT, so our defensive rates were very strong, despite their use of 253. I think that the victory would be in our side, but we needed the goals to celebrate… and they arrived very soon.

- Which formation of Switzerland would be the hardest to beat, in retrospect?

Any formation with more attack or that could block at least 2 of our attacks.

It’s very common to see a lot of NT just focused in the midfield, using a lot of times 2 or 3 (Technical) Defensive Forwards. We can see it in every edition of Hattrick Masters too. But if a team has a powerful CA lineup, you must change your strategy and stop to thinking in the midfield (because you will win the possession anyway) and start to think what other areas of the game you will improve in order to beat that CA.

- What could Switzerland have done based on their team & skills to still win the WC against your tactic?

We analyzed their team and it’s done to crush any rival speaking of midfield ratings and it’s great, because that’s the base of the game. But if you never break your own mold, each time will be easier to defeat a team that always plays of the same way (this applies for Chile too).

I think that with the advantage that they had in TS, they could have sacrificed midfield ratings to improve their defense and attack, even playing with the 253, but with different individual orders.


Players

- What is the average level of passing needed in an NT 4-4-2 in your opinion? Do you prefer more passing on the central defenders or on the wing-backs?

I think that the 442 CA can decently work with a tactic skill 16, so the Passing of defenders will depend about the current Defense skill of defenders (more Defense they have, less Passing they need and vice versa).

I prefer more Passing in Wingback.

- Most of the time, NTs prefer to attack over the wings, so this must be countered by strengthening wing defenses. Please let us know what is your training plan for IMTWs and central defenders (who often play towards wing).

Our IMTWs require all the skills where they affect the ratings: Playmaking, Passing, Wing and Defense. We as a not so big Community, must be able to use these players as Normal Inners as well, so the training plan can’t focus in an ideal IMTW that we would like to have.

Central defenders will always focus in Defense and Playmaking, with some of them having Passing and/or Wing if it’s required.

- What is the role of the forwards in a 4-4-2? A defensive one that boosts side attacks or normal ones are needed as well?

The 442 CA is versatile in the aspect of Forwards, because it can use 2 Normal, 2 (Technical) Defensive Forwards or 2 Forwards towards Wing, so you can sacrifice attack if you want to get more midfield ratings with 2 (T)DFs or boost your side attacks with 2 FtW.

If you have several kinds of Forwards, you have more possibilities to play with your 442 CA.

- What is your favorite player of Chile’s past WC?

My favorite player is difficult to say, because I have at least 3, but I will name a player that was present in great shape during all Round I and II and who reappeared for the most important matches (Semi-Finals and Final), he’s Reynaldo ‘El Demonio’ Wittemberg (274352231). In the final game, he shone with 2 Quick SEs, although the first one was missed, he didn’t give up and the second one found to his partner Diego Antonio Zapata (299639026), who scored the definitive 1-5 in our favor.

He showed that with the “Trust of Coach”, a player (even virtual) can reach the glory, hahaha.

I want to close this HT-Press thanking all the signs of support of the Chilean Community. Thanks to them we have won this second Gold and if we continue this way, I know that we can reach the third one.

Good luck with your teams and long live HT!

- Thanks, Frano_Battousai!


Editors note: do you want to discuss the article? You can do it here: (16666957.1)

Пряме посилання на цю статтю (HT-ML, для форумів): [ArticleID=18175]