You see it all the time in soccer. The overwhelming favorites fail to break down their opponents, and the underdogs come away with a surprise win.
Only last night, North Macedonia beat the European champions Italy 1-0 in a World Cup playoff, sparking shock throughout European soccer.
So, how do you win a soccer match against a much better team? Let’s find out now.
Is there a way to win a soccer game against a better team?
Providing you prepare your tactics in training and are well organized on game day, anything can happen in a soccer match. The key to beating a better team is preparing in the right way and setting the right tactics to contain their threats. So, to help you set the wheels in motion, we explain in detail below how to win a soccer game against a better team.
Tips for preparing for a difficult soccer match
There isn’t only one thing you can do to beat a better soccer team. Rather, there are various things you need to work on if you’re going to be in with a shout. Let’s look at each of them now:
Work on your defense in training
The most important thing to work on in training before playing a better team is your defense. After all, your team is going to be pushed to the limits to try and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Therefore, in the week leading up to the match, spend time in training working on your defensive shape. Make sure your defenders and midfielders know what’s expected of them, and ensure they have a good understanding out on the field.
You should also work on defending set plays, as good teams will utilize corners and free kicks to maximize their chances of scoring against you.
So, in the lead-up to the big game, make sure your team is well-drilled defensively, and that should be a good foundation from which to build upon when the match comes around.
Adapt your formation
Your next job in preparing for better opposition is to adapt your formation. If you typically play a standard 4-4-2, which is often the case in amateur soccer, we’d recommend tightening things up at the back a little.
Tip: This recent blog post introduces three formations in detail that are perfect for use against stronger teams!
Playing five defenders or at least four defenders and a defensive midfielder will sure things up at the back and make it a little more difficult for your opponents to score against you.
If you’re hoping to beat a better team, it’s super important to keep things tight at the back, so adapting your formation is another necessary step that you need to take.
Employ the right tactics
Once you’ve worked upon your defense and changed your formation, it’s time to think about the tactics that you’re going to employ during the match.
Lots of teams decide to park the bus when they come up against tough opposition, but this limits your goalscoring opportunities. In other words, it might help you play for a draw, but you’re unlikely to win by lining up in this way.
A great tactic to focus on is the counterattack when you’re playing against a better side. This allows your opposition to dominate the ball while you absorb the pressure and hit them on the break.
While it requires a fair amount of running and concentration on your part, hitting your opponents on the counterattack can be a super-effective way of beating a better team. It’s precisely the tactic that North Macedonia used to beat Italy last night.
Consider the opposition’s weaknesses
While you don’t always have a great deal of information about your opponents before the match, try and use whatever knowledge you do have to your advantage.
Consider – what’s their weakness? Are they slow at the back? Do they have an inexperienced goalkeeper? Are their strikers small?
No matter what their weakness is, think about how you can exploit it. No team is perfect, and the more information you have about their weaknesses, the more chance you have of taking advantage when it comes to matchday.
Focus on keeping a clean sheet
Now that game day is just around the corner, our last piece of advice is to focus on keeping a clean sheet. Ultimately, if you prevent your opponents from scoring, you stand a much better chance of winning the game.
If you concede goals at the start of the game, you leave yourselves with an uphill battle to try and catch up, which then leaves you exposed to counterattacks.
The foundation for beating a better team has to be a strong defense, so if you can do everything you can to stop your opponents from scoring, there’s no reason why you can’t knick the odd goal on the counter-attack and defeat them.
The verdict: How to Win a Soccer Game Against a Better Team
Beating a better team in soccer isn’t rocket science, but you need to be prepared and organized. As mentioned, spend some time in training working on your defensive shape and tactics, and you can try and hit your opponents on the counter-attack.
If you manage to keep a clean sheet and hit your opponents on the break, you stand every chance of securing a memorable result for your team.