History, evolution and exploration of defenses

Since I was a child I have been a football lover, whether on the pitch, in the stands or even in video games. While almost all children wanted to be forwards and score goals, a passion was born in me to prevent them from scoring goals, for the art of defending.

The first defensive artist I can refer to was the Argentine nationalized Ecuadorian Norberto Araujo, a legend of Liga Deportiva Universitaria, a key piece in winning the Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana and Recopa. Beto or Samurai as he was nicknamed showed that the role of an excellent central defender is not done by just anyone, it is a position where you need to have a lot of concentration, leadership and both technical and tactical skills.

Over time, football has been in constant evolution, with more emphasis on the physical part, it was said that to be a defender you did not need to be so tall or so fast, either to play as a central defender or a full-back as what we know today as full-backs was called in ancient times.

In the defensive tactical part at the beginning of the 20th century, teams and national teams used to line up with only two defenders, times where extremely offensive football prevailed, even playing up to five forwards, but over time the tactical part by the coaches also changed and evolved to line up with four defenders at the back of the defense. In the sixties, under the guidance of the Argentine coach Helenio Herrera, the famous Italian catenaccio appeared, a strategy that began to place five defenders to become more solid at the back and finally the so-called line of three defenders implemented by the also Argentine Carlos Salvador Bilardo, in which they seek to be a more offensive team, having two stoppers and a libero, so that there are full-backs who have freedom to project themselves.

The first great world figure to revolutionise the position of defender was the German Franz Beckenbauer, the pioneer in playing as a sweeper, as he had a gift for commanding the defence and vision to project himself into attack, which made him a very attractive footballer because he mastered an excellent way of getting the ball out of the way, something uncommon in those times, where normally the centre-back was rustic and not very flexible with the ball at his feet. From him and his revolutionary football it was shown that the defender can also be elegant when getting the ball out of the way for the team, and other great sweepers with similar qualities appeared, such as Daniel Passarella, captain and world champion with Argentina in 1978, and the Italian Franco Baresi, a legendary footballer from the golden age of AC Milan in the eighties and nineties.

We cannot forget other great defenders in the history of football who left their mark and were key to their teams and national teams, winning several important titles and individual distinctions, including Bobby Moore, captain and world champion with England in 1966, Elias Figueroa, a Chilean footballer who triumphed with Peñarol and Internacional de Porto Alegre and was chosen three times in a row in the seventies as the best player in America.

In the 21st century, other great defenders appeared such as Fabio Cannavaro, captain and world champion with Italy in 2006, Alessandro Nesta, a figure in Lazio and AC Milan, the Spaniards Carles Puyol and Sergio Ramos, both world champions and key to their respective clubs, and currently the defender who has stood out the most is the Dutch Virgil van Dijk, a Liverpool centre-back who has won all possible titles with the English club.

Full-backs play a position that has also evolved over time. Before, full-backs were purely defensive and later they began to project themselves towards attack and even become wing-backs or false wingers.

Among all the defenders in the history of football, the Italian Paolo Maldini is undoubtedly the one who fully complied with all the defensive aspects that must prevail in a full-back. He is not only considered the best full-back, but also the best defender in the history of football, a 'one club man' with AC Milan, conquering everything locally and internationally and above all remaining in the elite at the highest level for almost two decades. In his early days he began playing as a left-back, where he was the best in the world in that position for many years, then with the passage of time due to age and physical wear and tear he readapted to playing as a central defender, a role that he played with excellence and solvency, being highly respected by teammates and rivals he faced.

It could be said that Paolo was one of the first full-backs to maintain a balance in his football performance, as he defended like few others and launched an attack when the occasion required it.

In modern football, most full-backs are players who perform constant projection offensively, leaving the defensive aspect in the background, and this is nothing more than the result of the evolution that football has had in recent years in the tactical need for full-backs to perform attacking tasks.

The pioneers in the creation of offensive full-backs were the Brazilians, from their school appeared great full-backs like Nilton Santos and Djalma Santos, two-time world champions in 1958 and 1962, there is also the remembered Carlos Alberto, captain and world champion with the unforgettable Brazil of the seventies, then in the eighties full-backs like Junior and Branco, and perhaps the most outstanding full-backs in history were Cafu, captain and world champion in 2002 and Roberto Carlos, these two becoming the ideal model that teams look for in full-backs.

Other great full-backs in world football were Ruud Krol, a Dutch footballer who could play as a full-back or centre-back, as well as Lilian Thuram, world champion with France in 1998, Javier Zanetti, an Argentine legend with Inter Milan, and Phillip Lahm, captain and world champion with Germany in 2014.

In the last great generation of Brazilian full-backs we can find Dani Alves, Marcelo and Maicon. And currently the most outstanding are Alphonso Davies, Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker, Hakimi, the brothers Theo and Lucas Hernández, Cancelo, among others. Taking into account the needs that a team requires in the defense position, when scouting, the following aspects can be considered to be visualized in the search:

Center back

• Anticipation

• Location

• Aerial play

• Coverage

• Timing in the mark

• Leadership

• Forcefulness in duels

• Ball exit

Fullback

• 1 vs 1 (defensive)

• Projection

• Unfolding

• Resistance

• Speed

• Crosses

• Concentration on the mark

• Supports to close in defensive coverage

These are some of the aspects that a scout can take into account when analyzing profiles of center backs or full backs according to the needs of the team.

In conclusion, throughout the history of football we have had great world-class defenders who have been the architects of great achievements at club and national team level. This position is often undervalued, forgetting that it has the same importance as the rest of the positions on the field. The former English footballer John Gregory said it well: “Forwards win games, defenders win championships.”

Gustavo Paredes