World Cup XXI

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World Cup XXI
Tournament details
Host Brazil
Season(s) Seasons 54-55
10 Jan. 2014 - 3 Aug. 2014
Teams 128
Final positions
Champions Flag of Chile.PNG
Chile
Runner-up Switzerland
Semi-finalists  Danmark
 España 
Tournament statistics
Matches played 983 
Goals scored Scorer List
WC XX WC XXII

The Twenty-first World Cup tournament took place in Brazil from 6 June to 3 August 2014. It was the first time that the final rounds of a world cup was played in a country that had previously hosted it. It was also the last time that a world cup was held in the same country that hosted the real-life FIFA world cup of the year.

Group Stage

Round I (Qualification)

All teams round-robin tournament
Group#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8
Group 1 Finland Poland Suriname Philippines Mexico Albania Georgia Morocco
Group 2 Switzerland Peru Russia Hungary Oceania Ivory Coast Faroe Islands Nicaragua
Group 3 Netherlands Ukraine Germany Malaysia Indonesia Canada Malta Liechtenstein
Group 4 Chile Turkey Singapore Costa Rica Honduras Egypt Senegal Yemen
Group 5 Italy England Cyprus Croatia Pakistan Maldives Barbados Palestine
Group 6 Spain Argentina Austria USA Montenegro Lithuania Bangladesh Vietnam
Group 7 Latvia Kazakhstan Jamaica El Salvador Hong Kong Lebanon India South Africa
Group 8 Republic of Ireland Colombia Greece Sweden Uruguay South Korea Mozambique Uzbekistan
Group 9 Bulgaria Belgium Japan Qatar Kampuchea Kyrgyzstan Ghana Venezuela
Group 10 Brunei Taiwan Slovakia Kuwait Guatemala Saudi Arabia Dominican Republic Syria
Group 11 Israel Azerbaijan Jordan Brazil Tunisia Scotland United Arab Emirates Kenya
Group 12 Paraguay France Portugal Iraq China Moldova Nigeria Iceland
Group 13 Czech Republic Romania Slovenia Benin Thailand Northern Ireland Panama Cape Verde
Group 14 Denmark Luxembourg Andorra Bolivia Trinidad & Tobago Ecuador Bahrain Oman
Group 15 Belarus Armenia Norway Algeria Bosnia & Herzegovina Uganda Angola Iran
Group 16 Serbia Estonia Wales Cameroon North Macedonia Tanzania Mongolia Cuba
Teams are placed in groups based on their rank. Teams play each other once at home and once away.

This round started on 10/01/2014 at 20:00 (last leg started on 21/02/2014).


Round II

32 teams - round-robin format
Group 1
TeamPtsGD
 România 9 +9
 Belarus 3 -2
 Eesti 3 -2
 Suomi 3 -5
Group 2
TeamPtsGD
 Schweiz 9 +6
 Belgium 4 +3
 Hayastan 2 -2
 Paraguay 1 -7
Group 3
TeamPtsGD
 España 6 +3
 Česká republika 6 +3
 Lëtzebuerg 6 +1
 Azərbaycan 0 -7
Group 4
TeamPtsGD
 Ireland 9 +7
 Polska 6 +3
 Chinese Taipei 3 -4
 Brunei 0 -6
Group 5
TeamPtsGD
 Srbija 7 +4
 Bulgaria 4 +1
 France 3 0
 England 1 -5
Group 6
TeamPtsGD
 Nederland 9 +7
 Israel 6 0
 Türkiye 3 +4
 Kazakhstan 0 -11
Group 7
TeamPtsGD
 Chile 9 +5
 Colombia 6 0
 Argentina 3 0
 Latvija 0 -5
Group 8
TeamPtsGD
 Danmark 6 +3
 Italia 4 0
 Perú 4 -1
 Ukraina 2 -2
This round started on 06/06/2014 at 20:00 and was played in Brazil.


Round III

16 teams - round-robin format
Group 1
Team Pts GD
 España 6 +5
 România 6 +3
 Česká republika 6 -1
 Belarus 0 -7
Group 2
Team Pts GD
 Danmark 9 +6
 Polska 4 -1
 Italia 3 +2
 Ireland 1 -7
Group 3
Team Pts GD
 Bulgaria 7 +4
 Nederland 6 +4
 Srbija 3 -4
 Israel 1 -4
Group 4
Team Pts GD
 Chile 9 +6
 Schweiz 4 +5
 Belgium 4 -2
 Colombia 0 -9
This round started on 11/07/2014 at 20:00 and was played in Brazil.


Round IV

8 teams - round-robin format
Group 1
Team Pts GD
 Danmark 5 +3
 España 5 +3
 Polska 4 -2
 Nederland 1 -4
Group 2
Team Pts GD
 Schweiz 9 +5
 Chile 6 +2
 Bulgaria 3 -1
 România 0 -6
This round started on 21/07/2014 at 20:00 and was played in Brazil.


Knockout Stage

Semi-finals
01/08/2014 20:00 in Brazil
  Final
03/08/2014 20:00 in Brazil
             
      Arena: Caldeirão Salompaz
(141 144 spectators) 
 Chile 3
(2)
 
 Danmark (2)
2
 
 Chile 5
 
     Schweiz 1
 Schweiz 2
 
 España 1    


Semi-Finals

Link Match Result  
Ht star.png  Chile 3
(2) - (2)
2
 Danmark (After Extra Time)
Ht star.png  Schweiz 2 - 1  España


Final

Link Match Result  
Ht star.png  Chile 5 - 1  Schweiz


HT Announcements

Hattrick announces
Second star for Chile 04/08/2014
In yesterday's World Cup final, Chile was victorious for the second time in the history of the World Cup after winning 1-5 against Switzerland, who unfortunately did not really stand much of a chance against the unleashed Chileans. Any hopes the Swiss had of getting something from the game was soon lost, certainly after they failed to score most of the few opportunities they got.

Congratulations to Chile and their manager Frano_Battousai with the second star!

HT-Press

How he managed to win the World Cup playing 442CA most of the time
Interview with the National Coach of Chile, Frano_Battousai (1177705)
Di HPE-Frank_ (14/09/2014 20:19)


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 and the second one against Costa Rica, 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, Bulgaria in Round IV, Denmark in Semi-Finals and obviously Switzerland in the Final.

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!


World Cup

Japan & Korea 15 · Argentina 17 · Netherlands 19 · USA 21 · Spain 23 · Brazil 25 · China 27 · Germany 29 · Russia 31 · Portugal 33 · Belgium 35 · Colombia 37 · Greece 39 · Thailand 41 · South Africa 43 · India 45 · Trinidad and Tobago 47 · Israel 49 · Montenegro 51 · Tunisia 53 · Brazil 55 · Andorra 57 · Indonesia 59 · Estonia 61 · France 63 · Guatemala 65 · Oceania 67 · Latvia 69 · Croatia 71 · Benin 73 · Cameroon 75 · Ireland 77 · Venezuela 79 · Hong Kong 81 · Liechtenstein 83

U-20 World Cup

Germany 16 · Oceania 18 · Romania 20 · Egypt 22 · Chile 24 · Italy 26 · Mexico 28 · Israel 30 · Malaysia 32 · Peru 34 · Finland 36 · Kenya 38 · Canada 40 · Iran 42 · Bosnia Herzegovina 44 · Poland 46 · Panama 48 · Finland 50 · Norway 52 · Italy 54 · Belgium 56 · Romania 58 · Faroe Islands 60 · Ivory Coast 62 · Pakistan 64 · USA 66 · El Salvador 68 · Sweden 70 · Kazakhstan 72 · Bulgaria 74 · Argentina 76 · Switzerland 78 · Scotland 80 · Guam 82 · Trinidad and Tobago 84 ·