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Less running, possession paid off for France

Reuters, Zurich
France let their opponents do the hard work on their way to winning the World Cup, running
less than most teams and enjoying less than 50 percent possession throughout the tournament, a FIFA technical
report showed on Tuesday.
The report also showed that the French scored once in every six shots on goal - compared with once in 36 shots for Germany, who were knocked out in the first round. The two sides
meet in the UEFA Nations League on Tuesday night.
As expected, the FIFA report showed that Spain enjoyed the most possession at an average of 69 percent, but the style of play that brought them great dividends from 2008 to 2012 proved their undoing in Russia as they were knocked out in the second round.
France ranked a modest 19th out of the 32 teams in terms of possession, controlling the ball an average of 49 percent of the time in their games, behind Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Peru among others.They also ran an average of 101 kilometres per match - the fifth-1 owest figure at the tournament ahead of only Atgentina, Mexico, Nigeria and Panama.
Serbia, who covered nearly 113 kilometres per match, ran more than any other team but went out in the
group stage.
“France went out to win the matches in the most appropriate way for the talents they had," former Scotland coach Andy Roxburgh, a member of FIFA's technical study report team, told Reuters by telephone. “They didn't play high intensity pressing football, it was very much contain and counter attack."
But he said it would be very unfair to say France were dull.
"They scored four goals in the World Cup final and they were incredibly entertaining in the counter attacks. There was so much quality in the team to admire," he said.
If there were a prize for entertainment value, however, it would likely to go to top scorers Belgium for their bold tactics in the 2-1 quarter-final win over Brazil.
"You are entertained if you see people take a risk, and Belgium versus Brazil was without doubt the most interesting game tactically," said Roxburgh, referring to Belgium's decision to leave three players in attack.
■ I spoke to Belgium's coach [Roberto Martinez], and what they decided to do was so high risk it took them two days to persuade the players."