Soccer Basics: Team Formation

Ok all you novices out there who are jumping on the Australia bandwagon for the World Cup listen up. The Soccer Squirrel is giving you a few basics about the game of soccer so you can hold your own in a discussion about should Hiddink play a 3-5-2 formation or a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The team formation is how the players in the team are positioned on the pitch. Not all teams play the same formation, there are many different types of formation. The numbers you hear when a person is talking about a formation is the number of players in each area from the defense (not including the goalkeeper) to the attack. The numbers will always add up to 10 as this is how many outfield players there are on a team. For example a 4-4-2 formation is 4 defenders, 4 midfielders and 2 forwards.

Within these areas (defense, midfield, attack) there are specific positions. In defense the main positions are centre-back, right full back, left full back, left wingback, right wingback and sweeper. In a 4-4-2 formation you would have a left full back, two centre-backs and a right full back. Wing backs are similar to full backs but are used in more unorthodox formations like a 5-3-2 where the wing backs are expected to defend with the 3 central defenders but also provide width in attack as the team has no wingers.

In midfield you play between the defense and the strikers but there can be different roles for each midfielder. In a 4-4-2 formation there will generally be a left winger, a right winger, a central defensive midfielder and a central attacking midfielder. The role of the wingers is to support the attack by feeding the strikers with crosses into the box or to dribble past defenders and play creative passes. The defensive midfielder acts as a shield to the defense trying to break up opposition attacks and act as a go to player for the defense to relieve them of pressure. The attacking midfielder's main role is to push forward from midfield when in possession and create goal scoring opportunities for the forwards or score the goal themselves.

In attack is your forwards or strikers and their principle aim is to score the goals for the team. When there are two forwards in a formation there is generally a bigger bodied striker who plays deep into attack and acts as a target man. The other forward generally is more of a mobile player and links up between the midfield and the target forward to assist in making goals and scoring them.

So let's take Australia playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation as an example as this has been widely tipped as the formation that Hiddink will be using in the World Cup.

For starters Mark Schwarzer would be the goalkeeper but the goalkeeper is not included in the formation.

The 4 refers to the back defensive four of Emerton (the right full back), Chipperfield (the left full back), Moore (the centre back) and Neill (the other centre back).

The 2 refers to the line in front of the back four which would mean 2 defensive midfielders. These two would be Culina and Grella.

The 3 refers to the line of attacking midfielders in front of the defensive midfielders with Kewell (the left winger), Cahill (the central attacking midfielder) and Bresciano (the right winger).

The 1 refers to the lone striker. This would be Mark Viduka, the big tall Aussie star.

Well there you have it. I hope that gives all those still understanding the game a better view of what positions the Socceroo players have. Go Aussies!