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Fri 16 Oct
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Tactics

How matches are actually won, explained with the data.

Illustration for the Tactics article “What does Marc Cucurella's role at left-back involve for Spain?”: an AI-generated editorial illustration showing an empty training ground at dawn with cones and markers laid out, with the headline set over it. Illustrative only, not a photograph of a real event.
Tactics
What does Marc Cucurella's role at left-back involve for Spain?

Marc Cucurella plays left-back for Spain. In Spain's system that means giving the attack…

8 Oct 2026 · Tom Whitfield
Illustration for the Tactics article “What Jong Oranje's Under-21 qualifier against Norway is testing”: an AI-generated editorial illustration showing an empty training ground at dawn with cones and markers laid out, with the headline set over it. Illustrative only, not a photograph of a real event.
Tactics
What Jong Oranje's Under-21 qualifier against Norway is testing

Jong Oranje, the Netherlands' Under-21 side, are in European Under-21 Championship…

7 Oct 2026 · Tom Whitfield
Illustration for the Tactics article “France v Belgium is best read through build-up, pressing and transitions”: an AI-generated editorial illustration showing an empty training ground at dawn with cones and markers laid out, with the headline set over it. Illustrative only, not a photograph of a real event.
Tactics
France v Belgium is best read through build-up, pressing and transitions

To read a France–Belgium international properly, start with the competition context and…

7 Oct 2026 · Tom Whitfield
Illustration for the Tactics article “Croatia v Spain is decided by who controls the middle third”: an AI-generated editorial illustration showing an empty training ground at dawn with cones and markers laid out, with the headline set over it. Illustrative only, not a photograph of a real event.
Tactics
Croatia v Spain is decided by who controls the middle third

Croatia against Spain is a fixture between two European national teams whose meetings…

7 Oct 2026 · Tom Whitfield