JAKARTA - The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be a place for players to show their skills. The players are believed to have performed with the best ability to bring their country to become world champion.
One of those believed to have stolen the show was players in the central sector. The midfielder can be presupposed as engine space for a football team and the midfielders are the technicians who control the space.
The midfielders are the link between the back lines and the front that flows the ball into the opponent's defense territory. The goal is clear, to create a goal-scoring opportunity.
Because of that position, the footballer who fills the midfield is the most hard-working player. They are not only required to push forward to help attack, but also to be the first party to provide protection to the back lines.
With such an important role, a midfielder is required to have more ability than players who occupy other positions.
They must be good at channeling the ball appropriately, skilled at finding the ball in the future, being observant in reading the game, being good at opening up space, being good at outwitting the opponent, and swiftly reclaiming the ball from the opponent's control.
With such qualifications it is natural that midfielders are vital and are often the key to the success of a team in a tournament, whether at the club level, or between countries' competitions.
They are residents of the green field who make the football game orchestra a result of optimal output.
They are the key to the success of a team, both at the club level and at the national team level.
We can see it from teams such as Manchester City, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona, or France, Italy, Germany, and Argentina at the national team level. Their success is always related to the presence of qualified midfielders.
At the FIFA World Cup level, which is November this year in Qatar, it will be its 22nd edition, as well.
Take Italy in 2006, Spain in the 2010, Germany edition in 2014, or France four years ago in Russia, and Italy in Euro 2020 and Argentina in the Copa America, both held last year.
When Italy won its third World Cup in 1982 were the duo of midfielder AC Milan, Gennaro Gattuso, and Andrea Pirlo, who kept Azzurri in balance for his game to become world champion of the year.
Meanwhile, in 2010, three Barcelona midfielders, namely Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta, finally lifted the World Cup after a long time no one had felt it.
The midfield's central role also came to the fore four years later when the duets Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos, who were both playing for Bayern Munich, became Germany's two most important green field actors in winning the 2014 World Cup.
Meanwhile, four years ago in Russia, the trio of Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi and N'Golo Kante became a major factor that brought France to win the 2018 World Cup.
A year ago when the European Cup was held in many places, the trio of Nicolo Barella, Marco Verratti and Jorginho became the keys to Italy's success in winning the 2020 European Cup.
This Italian trio has even been touted as the greatest midfielder trio since the legendary trio that brought Spain to win the World Cup and European Cup but also became a major factor in Barcelona's success over the years; Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez.
But the midfielder's important role hasn't surfaced until the late 1960s when people started creating 4-4-2 formations.
This formation has become a standard for most football teams because it is the most balanced formation and at the same time makes the midfielders get a definite role.
Formula is also what makes the position of midfielder so important, both in defense and when attacking.
He is not only the axis of the team's game, but also a balancer for two of his colleagues who play as wing midfielders. They have two very important tasks, namely supporting the attackers and at the same time expecting the defenders.
With such roles and status, midfielders are becoming the most fit players on the pitch because they are the ones exploring the pitch further than their peers, roughly between 9-12 kilometers in each game.
Because of this cruising range, they become the most frequent and longest players processing the ball, as well as the game's tempo controller, in determining when the team should go forward, and when to step down to help the defense.
They are not required to score because all they need is to be a good feeder and manage their team's game.
This is the role that midfielders like Jorginho in Italy, N'Golo Kante in France, Casemiro in Brazil, Declan Rice in England, Kevin de Bruyne in Belgium, Frenkie de Jong in the Netherlands, Rodrigo de Paul in Argentina, and more.
Whether or not there are great midfielders or defensive midfielders who are grateful to be world-class, often turning a great team into a medioker.
We can see from teams like Manchester United which continue to slump because they do not have reliable defensive midfielders.
But that situation not only happened to the club, but also the national team, including those who appeared in the World Cup.
With all these explanations, it will be very interesting to see the midfielders' work of this era in the world's second-largest sports tournament after the Summer Olympics.
The 2022 World Cup will not only be a place where people can see who is the sharpest forward and who is the most tough defender.
On the other hand, it is also about who is the midfielder who is the most effective technician for soccer games.
The candidates are already in line. From Sergej Milinkovic-Savic in Serbia, Frenkie de Jong of the Netherlands, Casemiro in Brazil, Luka Modric in Croatia, N'golo Kante from France, Joshua Kimmich in Germany, Sergio Busquets in Spain, Bernardo Silva in Portugal, Kevin de Bruyne in Belgium, to Federico Valverde from Uruguay.
They are all ready to amaze football fans when the Qatar World Cup kickoff 20 November. They are also ready to inspire other footballers around the world.
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