The 2024 Copa Sudamericana saw Argentina’s Racing Club, under the leadership of Gustavo Costas — a legend of the Argentinian side from his playing career who’s currently in his third stint as manager — defeat Fernando Diniz’s Cruzeiro 3-1.
Under their ‘relationist’ coach, the Brazilian side dominated possession, as we might’ve expected going into the contest.
They ended up with 68.49% possession at the end of the game.
However, that ultimately counted for little.
On the other hand, Racing Club took their chances well, benefitting from a well-thought-out game plan that came together on the day to give them the silverware.
This tactical analysis focuses primarily on Racing Club’s out-of-possession performance and how this proved crucial to their victory over Diniz’s possession-dominant side.
We’ll also look at how Costas’ side approached the game in possession, with one idea in particular helping them create numerous high-quality chances throughout the match.
Copa Sudamericana Final Formations & Lineups
The new Copa Sudamericana champions lined up in a base 3-4-2-1 formation, with Gabriel Arias starting in goal behind a back-three of Marco Di Cesare on the right, Santiago Sosa in the middle and Agustín García Basso on the left.
Gastón Martirena, who was somewhat fortunate to open the scoring after his cross from the right wing found its way into Cruzeiro’s net, started at right wing-back opposite Gabriel Rojas on the left.
Juan Nardoni and Agustín Almendra started in central midfield between the two wing-backs.
Ahead of them, Juan Fernando Quintero and Maximiliano Salas played on either side of centre-forward Adrián Martínez.
Costas made three changes to his starting lineup over the course of the match.
The Racing Club manager’s first change saw Bruno Zuculini replace Agustín Almendra in the 56th minute.
Then, Roger Martínez came on up front in place of Adrián Martínez in the 75th minute.
Racing Club’s final substitution saw Santiago Germán Solari Ferreyra replace Juan Fernando Quintero in the 87th minute.
Meanwhile, Diniz lined the Brazilian side up in a 4-2-3-1 shape.
Cássio Ramos started in goal behind a backline of William at right-back, João Marcelo at right centre-back, Lucas Villalba at left centre-back and Marlon Xavier at left-back.
His double-pivot lined Lucas Romero up alongside Walace in the centre of the park behind number ‘10’ Matheus Pereira.
Gabriel Veron started at right wing, with Matheus Henrique playing on the left.
Kaio Jorge started up front for Celeste.
Diniz made one more substitution than his opponent in this game.
To start with, Lucas Silva came on for Walace 30 minutes into the first half.
Then, Lautaro Díaz and Álvaro Barreal replaced Gabriel Veron and Lucas Romero in a 78th-minute double substitution.
Finally, Kaique Kenji Takamura Correa came on in place of Xavier in the 85th minute.
Racing Club’s High Pressure
Gustavo Costas’s defensive tactics were key for Racing Club’s victory over Cruzeiro.
They succeeded in forcing many more high turnovers than their opponents and made life quite challenging for Diniz’s men in possession, especially in the first half.
Copa Sudamericana Final 2024 High Regains Map
The Argentinian outfit completed almost twice as many high regains, more than twice as many counter-pressing recoveries and three dangerous recoveries to Cruzeiro’s one on Saturday, highlighting the extent to which their pressing caused Diniz’s team problems.
Against Racing Club, Cruzeiro averaged a 61.97% progressive pass success rate, with their 2024 average being 73.4% in that particular metric.
This further illustrates the extent to which the Brazilian side struggled against Costas’ well-organised, high-energy defence.
Racing Club pressed relentlessly in the first half, especially when the score was tied at 0-0.
This intense pressure forced several errors from Cruzeiro players in possession, as shown in figures 3-4.
In this regard, Diniz’s men played an especially sloppy first half, with a significant number of passes going directly to light blue shirts or even being sent directly out of play on some occasions.
Racing Club’s Central Midfield Control & Cruzeiro’s Second-Half Solutions
Throughout the first half of this fixture, Racing Club controlled the centre of the pitch very well with their pressing and well-organised defensive block.
They pressed in the high-block quite a bit and settled into a mid-block when required.
The shape and spacing of their midfielders and forwards in the mid-block helped form a pentagon around Cruzeiro’s double-pivot, helping them control the middle of the park.
On this occasion, the midfielder drops out from the centre, closer to the ball carrier, to become a viable passing option.
From there, Cruzeiro actually managed to play to the winger, who could carry the ball forward from just inside the opposition’s half.
They did well to continue their ball progression despite being denied access to the middle of the park.
However, being kept out of those valuable central areas ultimately stifled their chance creation, with Cruzeiro struggling to control the match despite their best efforts in the first 45 minutes.
Still, this particular passage of play provides some early examples of what the Brazilian side needed to do in the second half to solve their issues of central ball progression.
Essentially, Diniz’s midfielders drifted out of the centre almost entirely in the second half, leaving that area empty, as shown in figure 7.
One member of the double-pivot has dropped in between the centre-backs, while the other has moved high, positioning himself very close to the ‘10’.
This succeeded in dragging Racing Club’s defensive shape apart, creating space for a winger to rotate into the centre and receive from the deep-lying playmaker.
As this passage of play continues, winger Henrique can drive through the empty centre of the park, picking up some momentum as he gets to the edge of the final third in quite a central area.
This strategy ultimately helped Cruzeiro score their only goal of the game.
Diniz’s second-half adjustments, which saw the team perform far more rotations and off-the-ball movements to invade the middle of the park, helped Cruzeiro create far more chances in the second 45 minutes than they did in the first.
Cruzeiro generated just 0.41 xG in the first half, but they more than doubled that in the second (0.88).
They went from looking quite lost and toothless with the ball to pose a real threat to the Argentinian side, who did well to hold off the second-half attacks and pressure from Cruzeiro to emerge victorious.
Racing Club’s Attacking Tactics
Needless to say, in possession of the ball, Racing Club were far more direct than Cruzeiro.
Copa Sudamericana Final 2024 Pass Map
The two teams’ respective pass maps illustrate this far better than any description can.
Cruzeiro were more patient with the ball, playing a lot more short passes than the Argentinian side as they tried to break through into the centre.
Racing Club were quicker to go long, with a lot of those long balls being played over the top towards the left wing, as we can see on their pass map above.
Costas’ side deliberately targeted the space behind Cruzeiro’s right-back/right centre-back to release their left winger, Salas, and/or left wing-back Rojas, in behind.
The Argentinian side aimed to exploit these players’ pace advantage over the Cruzeiro players defending these areas to create chances, which they did on several occasions.
One goal and one disallowed goal came from long balls over the top towards that area of the pitch.
Copa Sudamericana Final 2024 Ball Progression Map
This strategy set Racing Club’s left-sided players, especially left-winger Salas, up for a lot of 1v1 duels with Cruzeiro defenders.
The Racing Club attackers performed very well in those 1v1 duels, ending up with a 100% dribble success rate on the left.
Costas’ tactics put the team in possession to win those duels.
The players’ ability helped them make the most of the opportunities to create chance after chance via the left wing, making this a highly effective tactic in the end.
Conclusion
To conclude this tactical analysis, Racing Club’s success in the Copa Sudamericana Final is mainly due to their solid defensive tactics and energetic defensive output.
They played Cruzeiro off the park in the first half, and while things turned a bit more in the Brazilian side’s favour in the second half, Diniz didn’t have enough magic to turn momentum entirely on its head.
Costas’ offensive strategy of targeting the space behind the right side of the opposition’s defence and getting in behind Cruzeiro there also succeeded in creating a plethora of chances for the Argentinians.
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