Norwegian tactic
Norwegian tactic (also called simply "Norway" or "Norge") was a strategy which uses extreme formations in order to boost midfield and/or attack at expense of defence.
Effectiveness
The idea behind this tactics is simple as inequality
5 > (10-6)
It means: if you'll get 6 out of 10 chances there are in every match, and you will score from at least 5 of them, you will win the match even if your opponent scores from every chance he gets.
In other words, if your possession is big enough to get you 6 chances in a match and your attacks are good enough to convert those chances into goals, you need no defence at all. So if giving up defence will give you such midfield and attacks, then it is a logical thing to do.
While the changes in the game engine that increased the importance of defence - especially the introduction of CA and defensive coaches - severely hindered the effective use of all out tactic, the Norwegian tactic is still successfuly used by many managers.
Name
The name of this tactic derives from famous final match (MatchID: 14287675) of World Cup IV, played on 29/02/2004, in which Norway beat Sweden 4-2 to become the first nation to steal the cup from Sweden. Norwegian NT coach Snylte used the following line-up:
| Norway gold medal line-up | |||
| GK | |||
| WB off | CD off | CD off | Extra IM |
| W off | IM off | IM off | WTM |
| FO | FO | ||
This was in reality not the first match in which Norwegian tactic was used, only the most famous one. The first Norwegian tactic matches catalogued so far were played on 04/12/2002 (friendly, MatchID: 3616209) and 11/12/2002 (cup, MatchID: 4794951) - 14 months before the World Cup final - and there are probably even older ones (please submit them if you find them).
The Sunda tactic
The name Sunda is the name used in Finnish forum to describe the Norwegian tactic. The tactic is named after a Finnish team Sunda Bomba, that used this tactic.
