No Striker, No Problem – "False 9" Sees Union Past D.C. United
By Kevin Kinkead
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- When Jim Curtin needed a goal, he took his only forward off the field.
Options were limited after the sending off of C.J. Sapong in the first half of Tuesday night's weather-delayed U.S. Open Cup game.
Left winger Andrew Wenger was moved up top as the lone striker in a makeshift 4-4-1 formation.
And a rash of injuries meant that the bench was depleted; Antoine Hoppenot was the only other striker in the gameday 18.
So instead of bringing in his reserve attacker, Curtin took Wenger off for Fabinho, pushed the Brazilian into a left midfield position, and moved Cristian Maidana into a center forward role.
The result was some sort of bizarre, pseudo-false 9, and it paid off. Maidana and Fabinho hooked up for the game winning goal in the 79th minute and the 10-man Union went on to beat rival D.C. United, two to one.
"It wasn't by choice," Curtin said of the tactical decision. "Your star striker goes out and there were a couple of things we could have done. We could have sacrificed somebody and thrown on Antoine, but at that point (the 24th minute red card) it was early to burn a sub. On a night where you have to at least consider, in the back of your mind, the possibility of 120 minutes with three subs, we decided to let that group ride it. To their credit, with Chaco as that false 9, he did a good job. He got on the ball a lot and played a lot of good through balls. The ball he plays Sheanon (Williams) in behind is world class. The ball he plays to Ayuk is another great one, and the one to Andrew where he hits both posts. The false 9 was not by plan but more by personnel, and the moment in the game when you look up at the clock and it's the 25th minute. To burn a sub then would have been setting us up by halftime to be down a sub and down a man. The guys on the field sorted it out and I give full credit to them."
In layman's terms, a "false 9" basically describes the lack of a true forward on the field. Your highest attacker essentially drops deep enough to be considered a midfielder.
We saw this worked to perfection at Euro 2012, when Spain rolled out a formation that didn't even include a center forward. Cesc Fabregas operated in the most advanced role, and Vincente Del Bosque's side crushed teams with copious amounts of possession and incisive flank play.
In the case of the Union, Cristian Maidana was tasked with getting on the ball and working with Fabinho on his left and Eric Ayuk on his right. The goal was scored on a one-two combination play where Maidana dropped deep, received the ball, and worked off the darting run of his winger.
It wasn't the first option, but Curtin says it just sort of fell into place.
"Richie Marquez had a little hip flexor so we were actually considering sliding Sheanon inside and trying to find a way to get Fabinho on the field, just because he gives you a dynamic guy out there on the left who can get service into the box," the manager explained. "He'll run at defenders and he can wrong foot you. Fabinho was a guy we wanted to get in the game. When you're down a man, it's always trickier to manipulate things because someone has to come out. Andrew started to fatigue a bit and I think he put in a lot of running. Wide guys, when you're playing with 9-men, are going to do a lot of dirty running. Andrew did that, so it was time to make a change, and yes, it was a little bit calculated in that Fabinho gives you a bit of a defensive mindset, but can still get forward to the endline to put in a cross. So, on paper, it looks like a defensive sub, but he still a guy who can make a play and get you a goal, and he did."
