World Cup Corner

If you are part of the football circle then you have probably heard of the word catenaccio, which means “dead-bolt” or “lock” in literal terms but it is interpreted as a very bad word referring to Italian football from the ‘60s and ‘70s that was negative at best. There are some tactical lessons to be learned from Catenaccio and any soccer coach should take these into consideration. However, Catenaccio can be a very good strategy to use for defense when it is correctly performed. In fact, the result of implementing Catenaccio may be one of the very best defensive strategies that exist in football. There is of course one good reason why Catenaccio isn’t liked by many soccer fans and that is as simple as the strategy keeps the other team from scoring.

Catenaccio was supported primarily by Helenio Herrera, an Argentinean trainer who was also the coach of Italian Serie A side Inter Milan back in the ‘60s. Herrera used Catenaccio to win two European Cups and four Serie A titles, which is proof positive that the system worked wonders. Of course, by this point you may be wondering how Catenaccio is implemented. Basically, Catenaccio uses a formation of 1-3-3-3 which is considerably more stable and provides more defense to the goal. The formation has one sweeper (1), three marking defenders (3), three midfielders (3) and finally three attackers (3) that make up the 1-3-3-3 formation. Occasionally Herrera would use four marking defenders and a sweeper that would defend the area between the defensive line and the goalkeeper. He would cover any attackers, pick up loose balls, as well as move the ball from the defense area to midfield where he could then attack. The Italians were popular for Catenaccio and this defensive strategy. However, the English clubs were using a different strategy. They were playing with a 3-2-5 formation that was the old “WM” style and it really did not have a chance when compared to the Italian Catenaccio.

The most important aspect of Catenaccio was defensive security. Teams utilizing this strategy would force plays to score a goal and then with a lead of 1-0 would implement the Catenaccio strategy. This meant defending the sweeper and two lines of three men protecting from attacks on midfield or on the defense. The flair of attacking was not important because the defense was strong and this method was a wonderful way to play defense, at least for a while.

As the years went by Catenaccio went out of style so to speak in favor of other styles like the Dutch Total Football System that became ultra popular. However back in the late 1980s and early 1990s Catenaccio was implemented by the AC Milan “Dream Team.” The version of Catenaccio used by this team resulted in three European Cup wins in 1989, 1990 and 1994. This proves that while the players on that team, including Franco Baresi, Mauro Tassotti, Paolo Maldini, and Alessandro Costacurta, were incredible players they played even better defense by implementing Catenaccio.

Today Catenaccio is no longer used, at least not in its original style. That’s because the position of libero and man to man marking are not used any longer and they were two of the most important elements of Catenaccio. Today when teams say they use Catenaccio as their defense style they are not really referring to the old style but a new hyper defensive style or a retreat style. Mostly weak teams choose to use this form of defense today and it is not synonymous with Italian football. In fact today many Italian football leagues use more modern approaches to defense and very rarely implement Catenaccio unless a specific situation calls for it. Fans don’t like it because it makes watching the games les of a spectacle. That’s the basic story of catenaccio and its rise and fall as one of the best defensive strategies in football.