DWN,
That is a very interesting formation to counter the CostaRicans attack: I was just readng Mexico's tactics aganist Costa Rica:
A novel formation
Since taking charge of El Tricolor three years ago, Lavolpe has always opted for three in defence. It is a system that both his players and their opponents have grown used to, but when Costa Rica ran out into the Azteca Stadium last night they found four, not three, men at the back.
The coach said afterwards that he had made the decision in order to "win the midfield battle and thus establish a good supply line to the two strikers".
At first, it looked as if his players would struggle to adapt, but the astute Lavolpe monitored the development of his strategy and fine-tuned it as the game wore on. From midway through the first half, the home side began to look comfortable with the scheme and dominated proceedings from that point on.
The coach started with two players who do not normally feature in his starting XI, and deployed them in unfamiliar positions.
Gerardo Torrado and Gerardo Galindo normally play defensive midfield roles, but the pair were stationed in wing-back positions against Costa Rica. "I put them there to contain Costa Rica's two wingers and cut off the supply to their two front men, who are very dangerous," explained the coach.
According to Lavolpe, the strategy did not work as well as intended, which is why he was forced to make changes at the interval. Yet even these were unorthodox. Torrado was withdrawn to make way for Ramon Morales, a left winger who immediately began to cause problems for the opposition. Lavolpe later decided to take off Mexico's talismanic captain Rafael Marquez, whom he had deployed in the unusual role of right winger, claiming he looked "tired". That change proved inspired. Ricardo Osorio, who until then had been playing in the centre, moved out to the right and Mexico's opening goal originated from that flank.
After El Tricolor finally broke the deadlock, many people expected Mexico to let Costa Rica come forward and to hit them on the break. Again Lavolpe had other ideas. He swapped his creative midfielder Zinha for Omar Bravo, who took up an attacking position wide on the right. Now playing in a 4-2-4 formation, the home side were at their most dangerous, and Francisco Fonseca's goal late on was the icing on the cake.
