Why Tiki Taka still rules the world
By: Sunday Oliseh | 11 Jul | 21:33



As the Chileans drove the final nail in the coffin for Spain in Brazil, most thought that was the end of "Tiki Taka" football as we know it, at least at this World Cup.

Germany has quickly debunked that false notion by playing in Tiki Taka mode, thanks to its Bayern Munich influence under Pep Guardiola, and adding a German touch to it. It has positive aggression. Some term it "Tiki Taka a l'allemand"(french).

I share these statistics with you.

GROUPS STAGE TEAM STATISTICS

#
NUMBER OF PASSES BY TEAMS
TOTAL
AVERAGE
1
Germany
1934
645
2
Spain
1913
638
3
Italy
1735
578
4
Argentina
1694
565
5
France
1576
525
This first-round statistics of the German passing game show to what point Tiki Taka is still at large and successful. This has propelled them to their first World Cup finals in over 24 years!

What does "Tiki Taka" mean?

Tiki-taka is a style of play in football characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels and, most importantly, maintaining possession. The style is primarily associated with La Liga club Barcelona from Johan Cruyff's tenure as manager, updated with more success recently by Pep Guardiola from 2006 till 2012.

The Spanish national team, under managers Luis Aragones and Vicente del Bosque, also played this brand of football.

How come the Germans got to this?

Guardiola is now coach of Bayern Munich and has completely exported his Tiki Taka football into Bayern Munich. This current German side of 2014 usually starts with six players from Munich and are reaping the benefits.

Some may say that the Germans played similar football in South Africa in 2010 and that Bayern Munich did also in their successful 2012/2013 treble run. There could be some truth in that but then they were more defensive-conscious and played most of the passes in their own half.

Germany, version 2014, pressurises the opponent on all parts of the pitch, depending on where the ball was lost, and keeps possession in the opponents’ own half, as the poor Brazilians can attest to in their semifinal encounter, won 7-1 by Germany.

German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and central defenders Hummels and Boateng are the initiators of most attacks and a passing game that averages 645 passes in a game. The most impressive part of it is that they have scored 17 goals in six games, 64 attempts at goal and an average of one goal every 34 minutes. Yes they are that impressive.

There are many who criticise this passing game of Tiki Taka but I feel it is beautiful to watch a team play it and it requires more thinking than many think or admit to.

As we share this, the world champion of 2014 is yet to be crowned but, thanks to the exploits of Germany, Tiki Taka is not dead and buried.

The style of football that proves to be successful at the Fifa World Cup influences the shape of world football for the subsequent four years. This success story of the Germans playing Tiki Taka guarantees the survival of Tiki Taka, though its renowned exponents, Spain, crashed out to an early 'death'.

Come what may on the final day, when Germany lock horns with Lionel Messi's Argentina, Tiki Taka will still rule the world.

vislabraye: Source : http://mobi.supersport.com/football/blogs/sunday-oliseh/Why_Tiki_Taka_still_rules_the_world. I don't quite agree with him. The success of German in this WC has nothing to do with Pep's input in Bayern. This German team has skillful players as well as players good with aerial balls.

mikeansy:

The German Coach Joachim Loew started a transformation agenda and philosophy alongside his mate Klinsman and carried on that agenda even after Klinsman left.

While its true that the short passing and pressing high up the pitch is similar to the spanish, it will be wrong to give Pep Guardiola any credit for the German success.

Because Bayern Munich under its former coach destroyed Barcelona even before Pep took over

vislabraye: Source : http://mobi.supersport.com/football/blogs/sunday-oliseh/Why_Tiki_Taka_still_rules_the_world. I don't quite agree with him. The success of German in this WC has nothing to do with Pep's input in Bayern. This German team has skillful players as well as players good with aerial balls.

vislabraye: . Exactly !! And Bayern under Pep lost 4 0 to Real Madrid under Pep Guardiola.

thegoodjoehunt: It is not about a performance in one or two games. It is about the performance in a long run. Bayern Munich began the season, pursuing 5 trophies. They won 4 of the trophies and lost one. That is a fantastic result for a system.

thegoodjoehunt: Luther Matthaeus, former Captain of Germany and Bayern Munich credits Guardiola for having a hand Jun the success of the Germans.

He knows a lot about Bayern. Sometimes, we do not argue and learn. That is how we gain understanding.

Also remember when the Germans played The Spaniards at the 2010 World Cup, they defended.

After Guardiola massacred Bayern at Allianz arena, Van Gaal was brought in and the Tiki Taka transition started.

vislabraye: . Does Real Madrid play the tiki taka football? Does Athletico Madrid play tiki taka football ? The German team is this successful because they are young and have played for4 years together. The fuNny thing is that a lot of good teams have develop a sort of anti dote to this tiki taka system. Although the German plays the ball on the ground most times, they are also very good in aerial balls which Barca and Spain lacks. They can take outside shots and throw long passes. The German plays similar football to the Dutch.

vislabraye: . Bayern Munich has been doing consistently well in CL before the arrival of Pep. When they demolished Barca , they didn't use Barca's tiki taka football. Tiki taka has its advantages, no doubt about it but a lot of teams are becoming used to the system.

vislabraye: . Bayern Munich has been doing consistently well in CL before the arrival of Pep. When they demolished Barca , they didn't use Barca's tiki taka football. Tiki taka has its advantages, no doubt about it but a lot of teams are becoming used to the system.

thegoodjoehunt: Matthaus: Guardiola has influenced Germany

The World Cup winner thinks the Bayern Munich coach has passed on his philosophy to the international side, and admits the squuad are playing more pragmatically now


http://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/3999/world-cup-2014/2014/07/07/4942051/matthaus-guardiola-has-influenced-germany

If you like, argue with the legend because you know more than him.

thegoodjoehunt: Are you saying you know Bayern Munich or Germany more then Lothar Matthaeus?

He is the former captain of both the German and Bayern Munich team. You can argue with Luthar Matthaeus about aerial balls or shots from range.

By the way, Fabre gas shoots from far. So does Xavi and Iniesta. Carzola can shoot from far. Jordi Alba and Azpilicueta are good with crosses. Diego Costa is good with aerial balls. David Silva shoots from far. So I do not get your logic.

mikeansy: This is ridiculous

We want to suggest that Guardiola who has been in a job for just 12 months is the reason why Germany are making progress?

Joachim Loew and Jurgen Klinsman started this project 10 years ago

Lothar Matheus can say what he likes but when Germany destroyed England and Argentina at the last World Cup they did not do so defending

The only thing I will say Joachim Loew has tried to copy from Guardiola is using ThomAs muller as false number 9. It also helps that a lot of key players for Germany play for bayern Munich but to suggest that the reason Germany are in the finals is because of pep arrival 12 months ago is just ridiculous! Nothing can be further from the truth!

yoji:
I agree with u. Am surprised someone would ignore a stat that says Germany has almost 3 times the average completed passes in the tournament just for the sake of arguing. Also ignoring that lahm and kroos who play under pep at club level are the top passes in the tournament .
Germany also adopted the false 9 option synonymous with tiki taka by taking only 1 out and out striker to the world cup i.e klose since mueller plays anywhere across the frontline.
It's pathetic when someone points to a lost match by barca or peps bayern as reason for the systems demise as if the players are not human anymore. The win percentage would b more appropriate.
All the noise about the system being dead conveniently ignores that pep won the league in record time, not forgetting the cup.
Also people make it look as if jupp heynkes bayern was perfect forgetting that there were almost serial losers until their fortunes changed. There were constantly waxed by dortmund and even lost the champs league final to chelsea in their backyard and lost the cup and league to dortmund that same year.
The only difference is that Germany attacked quicker while Spain wore out the opponent waiting for that play guaranteed the goal. Come to think of it, from loews perspective, if u have a team dominated by players that play a successful system, your work will have been made easier.

vislabraye: . Bayern were almost serial losers until their fortune changed Are you for real? You call a team that won the CL before Pep took over serial losers ? A team that has reached the finals on 3 different occasions are serial losers ? For your info, Bayern won a treble before Pep came in. Pep is a good coach but let's admit it, he inherited an established team. He didn't change the fortune of Bayern let alone the German national team.

vislabraye: . You said former captain !!! This present coach knows better about this German team.