World Cup winners will be team with best wide players - Wenger

AL RAYYAN, Qatar : The group stages of the World Cup saw a staggering 83 per cent rise since the last tournament in goals scored in open play that came from the flanks, a trend Arsene Wenger believes will determine who wins the competition.

Discussing a technical analysis of the first round by world governing body FIFA, Wenger, who heads its global football development, said there was a trend of defences protecting the centre of the final third, meaning teams were forced to go down the left and right channels to create chances.

"The teams block the centre of the pitch, so they open more on the flanks... it means the best teams who have the best wide players have the best chance to win the World Cup," Wenger said in a presentation in Qatar on Sunday.

Juergen Klinsmann, who is a member of the FIFA Technical Study Group, said the pattern of packing the defence was also impacting the number of attempts to shoot on goal from outside the area.

"It's really difficult for teams to break through the middle," he said. "Defensive and midfield lines are so close together there's no chance to pull the trigger."

That defensive pattern also led to a 33 per cent reduction since the 2018 World Cup in Russia in the number of "take-ons", or players in possession of the ball running at defenders and beating them, while many were being forced out wide.

Klinsmann said the data showed this favouring South American teams far more than Europeans.

"It's their way of doing things. It's the love for the street football games still... the kids take on each other, one against one. So it's not surprising that they're leading on this," he said.

Another big change was how often goalkeepers made themselves available to receive passes to their feet, up from