Can Floro make scoring a priority for Canada?
There has been a lot of discussion and speculation since Canadian Soccer Association president Victor Montagliani announced the hiring of former Real Madrid head coach, Benito Floro, as new Canadian National Team manager in July. Floro brings on significant experience he gained as a head coach over thirty years in Spain, Mexico and Ecuador.
Can Floro help Canadian soccer reach the ultimate goal, bringing them back to the World Cup, their first one since the experience they had at Mexico '86? The Benito Floro era has begun quietly, with a training camp having limited media coverage in Valencia and a couple of friendly matches against Mauritania. Floro selected a 33-man squad including some names many might not have expected.
"For me, the age of the player is not necesarrily important," Floro said in the Canadian Soccer Association’s announcement.
"What is important is the tactical behavior of the player on the pitch and the level of the player's ability. I have brought in a number of young players because I like the level they are playing at -- and if things progress well -- we will be able to bring in more youth players in the coming years."
That's the question: what we can expect from Floro, from a tactical viewpoint? When Arrigo Sacchi started his zonal revolution at AC Milan in the late '80s, a lot of imitators appeared. One of them was Benito Floro, who lead a small club in Albacete from the Third level to the First One in Spain.
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He was then hired by Real Madrid in 1992 and guided them to victory in the 1993 Copa del Rey, losing the league championship on the final day of the season and being fired during the following campaign after some poor results. But these high points all happened in the early '90s, so it's hard to image what Floro can bring on with his new team twenty years later.
It's probable that he will try to install a strict tactical organization to the Canadian team. With a side consisting of capable defenders in Andre Hainalut, David Edgar and Marcel De Jong and midfielders such as Atiba Hutchinson, Russell Teibert, Will Johnson and Dwayne De Rosario, but lacking any true goal scorers, a side built around quick fast-break isn't also out of question.
Should he chose build a more offensive formation, Canada can rely on some quick forwards in Simeon Jackson, Tosaint Ricketts, Iain Hume and even De Rosario. Eintracht Braunschweig’s forward Simeon Jackson is a speedster and could be lined up wide open into a 4-3-3 formation with Josh Simpson brought on the opposite side, should he be able to recover from injury and regain his form from two years ago. This system would allow Canada's head coach to pack the midfield with three men. In this formation Atiba Hutchinson, who can also be lined up as wide forward as he can make effective cutting inside runs, could be fielded in the middle, alongside two in Will Johnson, Julian de Guzman, Issey Nakajima-Farran, Jonathan Osorio, or Terry Dunfield.
Floro also will have the opportunity to employ some tall targets in Marcus Haber, Olivier Occean and maybe even Rob Friend up front. Maybe they are not pure scoring strikers but they could manage the target man duties effectively, especially Occean who did well through World Cup Qualifying.
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Another and more aggressive option is to line up Canada in a 4-2-3-1 formation, playing Hutchinson as attacking midfielder behind a lone forward up front. Canada has often lacked communication in the final third, so Hutchison could be the key factor playing a linking role between forwards and midfielders. With four men up top Floro could also find a way to disrupt his opponent’s passing by pressing in their own end. Many times the Canadians built some amount of chances which they failed to capitalize so a more offensive formation might be something to consider.
Michele Tossani is a football tactician with a Ph.D. in History. Michele resides in Florence, Italy and is a tactical analyst for Futbol-Tactico.com
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