How Japan Outsmarted Sweden… Twice | Tactical Analysis | FIFA World Cup 2026™

0:00One tactical idea changed the game. One

0:02half-time adjustment changed [music] it

0:04again. Japan targeted the space in the

0:06left channel. Sweden closed it, but

0:08Japan found another solution. It's a

0:11fascinating lesson in [music] adaptation

0:13at the highest level. We could see the

0:15organization from a Japan perspective.

0:17They're really creating space across

0:20full width of the pitch and some good

0:21height. You can see obviously

0:23combination in central areas, but really

0:25focus on the left-hand side and the

0:26height of that left-side center back

0:28Ito. Obviously left wing back has

0:30received. He's allowed Ito to come on

0:32the outside. The left wing back has then

0:34made the run inside, but obviously Ito

0:36has made a great delivery into the box.

0:39So, if we look at the organization of

0:40both teams, obviously Japan are set up

0:43with the blue discs right now. And you

0:44can see their organization is a 3-4-2-1

0:49in attack.

0:50They're playing against a 5-2-3

0:52organization for the first half from a

0:55Sweden perspective.

0:57So, there were a couple of strategies

0:59they used, but particularly focusing on

1:01the left-hand side of the pitch.

1:04Now, as they progressed, they released

1:06this player, the left-side center back

1:08Ito. And he was hugely important in

1:11their success in attacking aspects in in

1:13the first half. And the way they did it

1:15was they utilized one of the central

1:17midfield players who would drop into the

1:20back line, which would enable one of the

1:23center backs to move into a wider area,

1:25which would then release the left-side

1:26center back Ito a lot higher up the

1:28pitch. Which obviously pushed on the

1:30left-side wing back. So, as they

1:32progressed down the field, the space

1:34that Japan exploited really well from an

1:37attacking aspect was this inner channel

1:40on the left-hand side. They utilized

1:42left wing back, sometimes coming inside,

1:45sometimes staying outside, and the

1:47left-side center back Ito again making

1:50decisions based on the players in front

1:52of where the space was created. So,

1:53sometimes there were runs inside,

1:55sometimes there were overlapping runs.

1:57There were multiple occasions in the

1:59first half where you actually saw the

2:01left-sided center back delivering into

2:03the box for center forward and the

2:05attacking center mids. See Japan here

2:08just in with the ball in the central

2:09areas again. Um you can see the time and

2:12space those midfield players have, but

2:14really focus on the run on the left-hand

2:16side of the left-sided center back who's

2:18actually now getting into the box in

2:20that inside channel, supporting the left

2:22wing back to receive, and really

2:24stretching that back line. You can see

2:26just obviously the amount of players in

2:28that area from a Japan perspective, but

2:30also the movements that have taken place

2:32when they're in that area as well.

2:35You can see the left-sided center back

2:36Ito just staying wide here, combinations

2:40with players wider in front of them, but

2:43again he's still involved. So that

2:45forward movement to stretch the back

2:46line is moving that defensive unit from

2:49a Sweden perspective.

2:51Second half, something did change, and

2:53tactical decision from a Swedish

2:55perspective

2:56meant that that space wasn't opening up

2:59any longer, purely because

3:02organizationally they flipped more to

3:05a 5-3-2 defensive organization, with

3:07Elanga dropping a lot earlier into his

3:11defensive responsibilities alongside the

3:13other central midfield players.

3:15If you look at the first half on the

3:16left-hand side, you can see

3:19the left-hand graphic compared to the

3:21right, very different with regards to

3:23the height on the pitch that Ito is

3:25getting. See this there's at least two

3:27moments where he's in attacking third,

3:30and obviously we've seen some of those

3:32moments where he's created some good

3:33opportunities for his teammates.

3:36Flip to the second half, it's far more

3:38restrictive I guess from an attacking

3:39perspective, where he's floating

3:42predominantly around the middle third of

3:44the pitch rather than the top third.

3:46So what Japan found was actually this

3:48space wasn't available to use in the

3:51second half.

3:52So, they had to find another solution.

3:55So, if we look at this example where

3:57Japan frequently created a switch

3:59opportunity cuz this is the area now

4:00they wanted to attack. No space left

4:03here because of Elanga's position in the

4:05left-hand channel. So, they're probing

4:08and they're coming down this side

4:09instead. And And the players they use

4:11really well to create good attacking

4:13moments on the right side of the pitch

4:16are the wing-backs, so the right-side

4:17wing-back. But, the front three, okay?

4:20And the front three were very mobile,

4:22lots of rotation. And there were

4:23examples of where central forward would

4:26stretch back line, and then the space

4:28created for the 10s on both sides

4:30obviously elongated. So, there were

4:32opportunities to play inside straight to

4:34the 10s or actually play in behind the

4:36back line to the central forward who's

4:39stretching in behind. This example

4:41actually led to the goal creation in the

4:43second half where the run

4:46in behind obviously stretched the play,

4:48but then we had a recovery moment. The

4:5010 picks up, plays on the corner,

4:53gets the ball back.

4:55And the 10 slides in through the back

4:57line,

4:59chance opportunity created. Japan went

5:01after the space on the left side.

5:03Sweden shut it down at half-time.

5:06So, Japan found another way to get

5:07[music] through.

5:09That's adaptation at the highest level.