So today I decided to tackle a France vs Ecuador match analysis piece. Honestly? Soccer tactics make my head spin sometimes, but I saw that game live and figured, why not try breaking it down myself? Started by plonking my laptop on the couch, grabbed a cold drink, and pulled up the full match replay on my streaming service. Fast-forwarded through all the pre-game fluff straight to kickoff.
The Messy Start
First attempt was a disaster. Tried watching the whole thing straight through while scribbling notes on a crumpled piece of paper. Big mistake. Got completely lost around the 15th minute when France suddenly switched up how their midfielders were running – was it one guy dropping back or two pushing forward? Rewound like ten times. Finally gave up and grabbed my tablet. Opened up a note-taking app and split the screen: match replay on left, blank notes on right. Way better.
How I Actually Figured Stuff Out
Decided to focus piece by piece:
- France’s Setup: Spent the first half basically just staring at Mbappé and Griezmann. Like, where do they even stand most of the time? Noticed Mbappé kept drifting super wide left, like almost hugging the line, while Griezmann played this weird floating role behind the striker. Kept pausing to jot down positions: “Grizzy floats! Kylian wide!” – super technical terms, obviously.
- Ecuador Trying Not to Drown: Ecuador… man, they just looked deep. Rewound their goal kicks. Almost every single time, their defenders were practically standing in their own penalty box. Realized they were basically parking the bus, trying to soak up French pressure. Whenever they got the ball back? Immediate hoof up the field to their one fast guy. Rinse and repeat.
- The Midfield Tug-of-War: This part hurt my brain. France’s midfielders looked like they wanted to pass triangles around Ecuador, but Ecuador kept throwing bodies in the way. Literally counted bodies in the center circle during a couple of scrums. France usually had 3 trying to connect passes, Ecuador often had 4 or 5 just swarming.
Putting the Puzzle Together
Once I had all these messy notes, I opened a new doc and tried to make sense of it. France’s plan seemed clear:
- Stretch Ecuador super wide with Mbappé & Dembele hanging near the sidelines.
- Let Griezmann roam in the space that creates.
- Pass quickly through the middle before Ecuador could crowd everyone out.
Ecuador? Pure survival mode:
- Sit deep, pack the box, kick the ball away.
- Hope for a mistake or a lucky break with that fast striker.
- Just try not to get hammered.
OH! The key moment was that disallowed goal Ecuador had. Rewatched it so many times. Totally showed how they wanted to play on the rare break – super fast, straight down the middle.
What Actually Went Down
By the final whistle, I saw why France got frustrated. All that beautiful passing got gummed up in Ecuador’s crowd. France tried scoring from the wings – crosses soaring in constantly – but Ecuador had like five heads waiting to clear them every time. It just turned into a grind. The subs? Honestly, looking back, I mostly paused to refill my drink during those. Kinda wish I’d paid more attention! Was definitely easier seeing how tired the Ecuador players got – way less sprinting by the end.
Key Find: Turns out even fancy tactics boil down to simple ideas when you watch slowly enough. France had space, tried creating more. Ecuador blocked space, tried countering. Felt pretty good finally getting it! Much better than my first notes saying “Fast guy on white team run fast.”