World Cup 2022 Group H guide: Bernardo Silva the orchestrator and Uruguay’s last dance

Uruguay and South Korea played to a scoreless draw Thursday.

Does Cristiano Ronaldo hurt or help Portugal these days? What should we look out for from Uruguay? How do South Korea use Son Heung-min?

The 2022 World Cup is nearly upon us and The Athletic has been running in-depth tactical group guides so you will know what to expect from every nation competing in Qatar.

Liam Tharme has looked at each team’s playing style, strengths, weaknesses and key players, and highlighted aspects of their game to keep an eye on during the tournament.

Expect to see screengrabs analysing tactical moments in games, embedded videos of key clips to watch, the occasional podcast clip and data visualisations to highlight patterns and trends — think of yourself as a national-team head coach and this is a mini opposition dossier for you to read pre-match.

We finish with Group H, which contains a Uruguay side who continue to punch above their weight, a struggling Ghana, World Cup regulars South Korea and a Portugal team captained by a 37-year-old Ronaldo at what is surely his final World Cup.

You can read Group A, Group B. Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F and Group G here…

Portugal

• Manager: Fernando Santos (since September 2014)
• Captain: Cristiano Ronaldo
• Qualifying record: P10 W7 D2 L1 GF22 GA7
• 2018 World Cup: Round of 16
• Average age of squad: 26.8
• Most caps in squad: Cristiano Ronaldo (191)
• Top scorer in squad: Cristiano Ronaldo (117)

How they play (tactics and formations)

“I have one trophy left to win; the best is yet to come… and it will come this year,” Fernando Santos told Portuguese media in September after a 4-0 Nations League win in the Czech Republic.

He has faced plenty of criticism for player selection and conservative tactics, particularly given Portugal’s attacking firepower.

On paper, the formation is expected to always be 4-3-3 but the characteristics of different players, particularly those in wide areas, lead to it being asymmetric at times.

Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo (white dot on grab below) is first-choice at right-back and is much more of a short passer and intricate player than their left-back options — overlapping Nuno Mendes, of Paris Saint-Germain (white dot on grab below), or Borussia Dortmund’s Raphael Guerreiro.

Similarly, left-winger Rafael Leao is more of an inverted, one-v-one dribbler whereas Bernardo Silva, on the opposite flank, does his best work when he can combine with team-mates and create chances for others.

Check out this goal from the home Nations League match against the Czechs in June. The left-back, Guerreiro, initially makes a run inside but Ruben Neves, the deepest of a midfield triangle, finds Bernardo between the lines…

…who slides Goncalo Guedes in to score.

Tactically, Portugal often shift into a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 when in possession and profile as one of the more expansive, build-up teams at this World Cup in terms of average passes per sequence and the speed at which they progress the ball forward.

Notably, only Poland (11) assisted more goals through crosses in World Cup qualifying than Portugal’s seven.

Their equaliser against Spain in another Nations League tie from the summer came this way, and again we see the 4-3-3 shape used in build-up…

… playing laterally to force the opposition block to slide and eventually create space for Bernardo and Cancelo to combine…

…with the latter crossing for Ricardo Horta to score with one touch.

Key player(s)

Santos believes Bernardo is one of the top 10 players in the world when at his best — and Portugal will need him playing at that level in this tournament.

The Athletic writer John Muller’s analysis of player roles quantifies Bernardo’s domestic evolution from more of a Box Crasher midfielder to an Orchestrator, describing his increased frequency of playing more intricate, shorter passes that facilitate attacks rather than being an attacking midfielder who has fewer touches and mostly plays closer to the opponents’ goal.

Tactically, Bernardo regularly drifts wide when Portugal have possession and plays off both feet incredibly well, consistently making excellent decisions. As shown in the grabs above he combines excellently with Cancelo, also a club colleague at City.

🇵🇹 Brilliant angled drive from João Cancelo on matchday 3!@selecaoportugal | #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/QUQMqgPl79

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 12, 2022

He can play the pass before the final ball but is equally adept at assisting himself.

The graphic below shows his chances created (21) and assists (six) in World Cup 2022 qualification and the 2022-23 Nations League combined. He was Portugal’s most creative player.

What stands out the most is the range of different final passes he produces and the variety of pitch locations they come from — pull-back crosses from the right wing; neat, shorter passes on the edge of the box; defence-splitting through balls from deeper.

Only Joao Moutinho (74) and Ronaldo (77) have made more appearances for Portugal under Santos than Bernardo’s 72, and no player has made more assists for Portugal in that time than his 24.

What’s their weakness?

Two main things: the tactical repercussions of Ronaldo and Portugal’s tendency to collapse, which feel intertwined.

As Michael Cox outlined for The Athletic in October 2021, Ronaldo’s limited offerings beyond scoring goals creates tactical problems for the teams he plays for — Portugal, like Manchester United, are finding that.

Three months short of turning 38, he is not able to repeatedly lead a press, which limits the extent to which Portugal can pen teams in and win the ball back high upfield. Their press is often reactive, rarely do they set traps and high-quality teams are able to play through, round and over them.

In possession, Ronaldo often drops deep to receive passes from the centre-backs, which helps to recycle the ball but does little to advance Portugal up the pitch or cause the opponents’ defensive line any problems.

Ronaldo does not cause Portugal to collapse but he certainly compounds their issues in controlling leads.

Just five of their 16 goals in the 2022-23 Nations League group stage were scored in the second half and in World Cup qualifying they led against Serbia home and away but took just one point from those two games — the 2-1 loss at home, conceding a 90th-minute winner, cost them an automatic spot in Qatar.

They also lost late on at home to Spain in the Nations League in September, which cost them a place at next summer’s four-team finals of that competition. Ronaldo gave Portugal the lead against both Germany and France in the European Championship group stage last year too, and they didn’t win either game (a 4-2 loss and 2-2 draw).

Can you forgive all of this because of his prodigious goals return? Arguably yes, and Santos certainly seems to think so.

Ronaldo (810) clocked the most minutes of any Portugal player in qualification and scored the most goals (six). He was joint-top of the tournament scoring charts at the Euros (five, including three penalties) even though his defending champions went out in the round of 16, their earliest exit ever from the competition.

Diogo Jota and Pedro Neto are more dynamic forwards these days but both miss this tournament with injuries, which compounds Santos’ problems.

One thing to watch for

Goalkeeper Diogo Costa is an example of Santos’ sometimes bold selection choices.

He replaced Rui Patricio, who has over 100 caps, to win just his second and third caps in the single-leg World Cup play-off games against North Macedonia and Turkey back in March and now the 23-year-old to be the youngest first-choice goalkeeper in Qatar.

Costa has drawn comparisons to Vitor Baia, a predecessor with both Porto and Portugal in the 1990s.

His distance kicking and ability to be active against crosses are above-average but it is his penalty record that truly makes Costa stand out.

Last month he became the first goalkeeper since Opta’s records began at the start of 2002-03 to save three penalties in one Champions League season and the opposition have scored only 15 of the 26 penalties he has faced in his senior career. The average penalty conversion rate is around 76 per cent, but it is only 57 per cent against Costa.

Three penalty saves in successive games for Porto!

Diogo Costa 🚫🚫🚫@FCPorto || #UCL pic.twitter.com/yZIGCHrt7A

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) October 31, 2022

Costa has conceded just three goals and kept four clean sheets in his seven caps.

Ghana

• Manager: Otto Addo (since February 2022)
• Captain: Andre Ayew
• Qualifying record: P8 W4 D3 L1 GF8 GA4
• 2018 World Cup: Did not qualify
• Average age of squad: 25.3
• Most caps in squad: Andre Ayew (107)
• Top scorer in squad: Andre Ayew (23)

How they play (tactics and formations)

Before analysing Ghana tactically, it is important to consider them contextually.

They enter this World Cup as the lowest-ranked of the 32 teams (61st) and have regressed the most over the past four years — 14 places in the FIFA list — of any of the sides competing in Qatar.

Their glass-half-full new head coach, Otto Addo, thinks this makes Ghana underdogs and says there is “no pressure”.

Addo has only been in charge since February, after a disastrous Africa Cup of Nations in which Ghana failed to get past the groups for the first time since 2006 (seven tournaments ago).

By his own admission, they had to improve tactically and after qualifying for Qatar with a two-leg play-off win (on away goals) over fierce rivals Nigeria in March, he said “the way they transferred our tactical thoughts on the pitch was exceptional”.

Without the ball, they sat in a 4-1-4-1 shape in the first leg at home, which ended goalless, and switched to a 4-2-3-1 for the second leg, which was a 1-1 draw. But more interesting was their approach in possession.

Though there was a lack of execution in terms of the final pass, Ghana often managed to progress the ball by dropping one of their central midfielders — typically Iddrisu Baba — between the centre-backs, providing cover for either of them to step forward with the ball and look to break the lines. Normally, this pair is Daniel Amartey and Alexander Djiku.

This effectively created a three plus three shape, with the two full-backs (blue dots on grabs below) Gideon Mensah (on the left) and Denis Odoi (right) able to position themselves wide and provide a passing option on the overlap.

Ghana tried this in September’s friendly against Brazil too — note the positioning of captain Andre Ayew, a forward, who drops deeper to fill the midfield space vacated by Baba.

Having a player move into that pocket was typical when they worked that rotation, and against Nigeria this was typically Jordan Ayew (Andre’s younger brother). Often, this was when their build-up play was most effective, as either player has enough quality to receive the ball under pressure with back to goal and set a pass in to a team-mate.

Without the ball, Ghana drop their wingers down into a 4-1-4-1 and while they look compact, they are particularly vulnerable in wide spaces.

The wingers get so narrow that it opens space for either a full-back or roaming midfielder to receive without pressure. This is better than if an opponent was receiving the ball centrally, closer to goal, but apart from perhaps Jordan Ayew, Ghana lack wingers with defensive quality.

We also saw this in that game with Brazil, where Neymar receives wide and Kamaldeen Sulemana does not do enough to stop him getting by.

This means that right-back Odoi has to engage, which opens up space in behind that Neymar exploits by shifting to the right and then sliding in Vinicius Junior.

This happened multiple times on both sides of the pitch during that game in the French city of Le Havre.

Key player(s)

Mohammed Kudus provides attacking quality and positional versatility — he can play anywhere in midfield, as a false nine or even on the wing if required.

The 22-year-old Ajax player, who has five goals and three assists in his 18 caps, is a graduate of Ghana’s famous Right To Dream academy. He is predominantly left-footed but scores with both feet and is equally adept at providing a final pass. He is a strong tackler too.

Scores with his right ✅
Scores with his left ✅

🇬🇭 Ghana’s Mohammed Kudus is simply unstoppable! 🎯#TotalEnergiesAFCONQ2023 | @ghanafaofficial | @KudusMohammedGH pic.twitter.com/XWWCl9fuTM

— CAF (@CAF_Online) June 12, 2022

Kudus has played in all eight of Addo’s games so far, with Amartey their only other ever-present player.

What’s their weakness?

Not scoring enough goals — and their defence is average at best. They only won half of their games in qualifying (four out of eight) and were the lowest scorers (eight, including one penalty) of the five African sides to make it to Qatar — Morocco scored 25, Senegal 16, Cameroon 14 and Tunisia 12.

They only scored once in that play-off with Nigeria, and the stats from that tie underline the difference in attacking quality.

Ghana are still reliant on the Ayew brothers for attacking quality, and struggle to dominate games with possession, instead having to sit in a compact shape (see grabs above) which forces them to try to attack in transition.

One thing to watch for

It is difficult to look beyond their group-finale rematch with Uruguay, which is the two sides’ first meeting since that infamous 2010 World Cup quarter-final when Luis Suarez stopped a shot on the line with his arm in added time of extra time and was sent off but Asamoah Gyan missed the resulting penalty that would have broken a 1-1 deadlock and Uruguay ultimately went through in a shootout.

That game aside, it will be interesting to see how Ghana integrate the batch of players who recently switched allegiance or overcame differences to play for them at this World Cup.

Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey (right-back, previously England), Southampton’s Mohammed Salisu (centre-back) and, in particular, Athletic Bilbao’s Inaki Williams (No 9, previously Spain) all made their Ghana debuts in September.

GO DEEPER

Analysing Mohammed Salisu and why it's all starting to click for the promising centre-back

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Tariq Lamptey and the tug of war between England and Ghana

South Korea

• Manager: Paulo Bento (since August 2018)
• Captain: Son Heung-min
• Third round qualifying record: P10 W7 D2 L1 GF13 GA3
• 2018 World Cup: Group stage
• Average age of squad: 27.4
• Most caps in squad: Son Heung-min (105)
• Top scorer in squad: Son Heung-min (35)

How they play (tactics and formations)

“The important thing is to maintain our system and play within that framework. Even when we deployed different formations in past matches, we still maintained our basic tactical structure,” Bento told South Korean media in the summer of 2021, midway through the Asian qualifying campaign.

The system is either a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 and the style relates to possession — South Korea were one of just three sides (alongside Saudi Arabia and Australia) to have the majority share of possession in all their 2019 Asian Cup games.

South Korea had the highest possession (66.6 per cent) and most 10-plus open-play pass sequences ending in a shot or touch in the opposition box (163) of the five Asian sides to qualify for this World Cup.

There is an argument they have too much possession at times and are overprescribed in very meticulous build-up play, particularly given their attacking quality, which can be so instinctively devastating. Bento frequently states the importance of their “system” and “style” after games.

He likes his side to keep the ball in the opposition half, playing with the full-backs advanced. The double pivot is crucial — at times, a central midfielder will drop into the back line to play a quarterback-style role, but this also facilitates the free roaming of the trio that play in-behind the No 9, particularly Son Heung-min.

We see this in the only goal of a September friendly against Cameroon.

South Korea build with their four plus two, and Son drops in…

… to then play a big switch to left-winger Hwang Hee-chan, who slid in the left-back to cross for Son’s winner.

The pattern is incredibly similar to the opening goal against Costa Rica in another friendly a few days earlier: four plus two, Son drops in, receives and switches.

This time, the switch goes direct to left-back Kim Jin-su (highlighted with the blue dot on this set of grabs).

But their best style-representative goal came against Brazil back in June.

South Korea lost heavily that day but it was their only defeat in seven friendlies they played across this summer and autumn, all of which took place at home.

Here we see an example of the rotations with the double pivot and back four.

Central midfielder Jung Woo-young drops in to create a functional back three and South Korea are effectively in a 3-4-3 with the full-backs (blue dots) providing the width.

They did not have many sequences like this in the game but for that goal South Korea kept the ball for 96 seconds, forcing Brazil to slide side-to-side before playing through.

Jung catalyses the attack by passing in to winger Hwang Hee-chan, who has dropped in (like Son on the other goals)…

… and he skilfully gets away from Casemiro to assist Hwang Ui-jo.

Video does this better justice than screen grabs, but is filmed from the opposite side of the pitch!

Key player(s)

Son, of course — though there will be concerns about his readiness for Qatar after he fractured an eye socket earlier this month playing for Tottenham Hotspur.

The forward has had the most direct goal involvements (21 — 12 goals, nine assists) of any South Korean under Bento, benefitting from a system which, as analysed above, gives him a free role in possession.

Son has scored five times in eight caps this calendar year including three from direct free kicks — against Costa Rica, Paraguay and Chile.

Kim Min-jae is undoubtedly their best central defender. He is the third-most capped player under Bento with 37 and provides a notable aerial threat in both boxes. Kim joined Napoli in the summer and won Serie A player of the month in September.

What’s their weakness?

As good as they are between both boxes, South Korea need to improve in them.

Despite facing significantly weaker opposition in the 2019 Asian Cup, they only scored four times in their three group games and were knocked out 1-0 by Qatar in the quarter-finals. Australia and Iran (both 15) scored more than South Korea (13) in the third and final round of Asian qualifying for this World Cup but expected goals data shows they created chances worth around 17 goals, suggesting some wasteful finishing.

They are not a strong low-block team either — despite Kim’s presence, they struggle defending crosses and tracking runners into the box.

Teams could adopt the approach of Paraguay or Costa Rica, who sat off them in a mid-block during those friendlies, allowed South Korea to build and then sprung counter-attacks after regaining the ball in midfield. Both games finished 2-2.

The build-up to Costa Rica’s second came from a regain off a familiar South Korean build-up pattern:

One thing to watch for

If you watch just one of South Korea’s games in Qatar, make it their group finale against Portugal. Bento is Portuguese and played for his homeland against South Korea at the same stage of the 2002 World Cup (the Koreans, as co-hosts, won 1-0 to advance to the knockout phase, eliminating Bento and company).

On the pitch, the 21-year-old Lee Kang-in could be set for a breakout tournament, though Bento has come under criticism for stubborn player selection and Lee did not feature in either of the September fixtures.

Lee won the Golden Ball as the best player at the 2019 Under-20 World Cup, scoring two goals and assisting four as South Korea made the final and became the third-youngest senior debutant for South Korea, at age 18 years, six months and 17 days, against Georgia that same year. He scored three times for the Olympic team (the under-23s) in their four matches in Japan last summer.

The diminutive left-footed attacking midfielder is exciting to watch — his press resistance is off the charts, either dropping in to receive passes from centre-backs, playing on the half-turn, dribbling or hitting big diagonals, and he can operate between the lines closer to goal too.

He creates goals from set pieces, crosses and through balls and offers a shooting threat from distance too.

🤩 Lee Kang-in putting on a show!

#AFCU23 | #KORvMAS pic.twitter.com/AUxTYXEVoJ

— #AsianCup2023 (@afcasiancup) June 2, 2022

Uruguay

• Manager: Diego Alonso (since December 2021)
• Captain: Diego Godin
• Qualifying record: P18 W8 D4 L6 GF22 GA22
• 2018 World Cup: Quarter-finals
• Average age of squad: 27.8
  
• Most caps in squad: Luis Suarez (134)
• Top scorer in squad: Luis Suarez (68)

How they play (tactics and formations)

Diego Alonso replaced legendary head coach Oscar Tabarez during qualification and has found success with a 4-2-2-2 shape that manages to accommodate most of Uruguay’s attacking talent.

They are not the most tactically complex team heading for Qatar but do use possession interestingly.

The graphic below shows the average passes per sequence (the horizontal axis) compared to the direct speed (vertical) of South American teams in World Cup qualifying. In simple terms: how long teams keep the ball for each attack and how quickly, or slowly, they look to play upfield.

Uruguay’s below-average rating for passes per sequence but above-average direct speed indicates a team who don’t waste time getting it forward.

They showed this against Canada in a September friendly, their narrow wingers (highlighted with white dots on the grab below) providing forward passing options for the centre-backs.

When the false wingers received passes, they would turn and play forward quickly along with the strikers, looking to combine with the high-and-wide full-backs to create passing triangles and situations for third-man runs…

… like this example against Mexico in a June friendly, where false winger Facundo Pellistri plays inside (white solid arrow) so Damian Suarez can be played through (blue arrow).

Here’s a similar example against Bolivia in qualifying on the opposite wing, with Federico Valverde sliding in Joaquin Piquerez.

But most interesting is Alonso’s use of his pivot players at goal kicks.

Regularly, one would drop between the centre-backs to make a functional three, or a diamond when connecting to the other central midfielder.

They did this in that match against Canada to provide an overload as they pressed with a front two…

… and in the same way to solve Panama’s press back in June. They continue to play vertical passes through the midfield when they make these rotations.

These two attacking tactics — third-man runs and making a functional back three — were interlinked at times too.

One example came against Iran, in their other September friendly. Valverde drops into defence which gives cover for Sebastian Caceres to step forward and break the line with a pass up to striker Darwin Nunez…

… who sets the ball into Rodrigo Bentancur (solid white arrow). The central midfielder then passes to left-back Mathias Olivera (black arrow), who finds Nunez again as the third man (gold arrow).

Key player(s)

It’s Luis Suarez. Still.

Now 35, he scored eight times in qualifying, the most of any Uruguayan. Admittedly, five of those were penalties — he boasts an impressive record of 14 out of 15 from the spot for his country.

Further back down the pitch, Valverde is immensely important for Uruguay’s build-up play. “Fede has similar characteristics to (his former Liverpool team-mate Steven) Gerrard — box to box, gets forward, change of pace, shoots, ” Suarez told Spanish media outlet Marca in September.

What’s their weakness?

This very much feels like the last dance for a golden generation.

Suarez, Edinson Cavani, Martin Caceres, Fernando Muslera and Diego Godin are all 34 or older, so there are question marks over their capacity to perform at a high level with the swift churn of tournament games. Having said that, Godin, 36, still managed the most minutes (1,516) of any Uruguayan in qualifying.

There is a lack of pace in the back line, potentially tied to the age of the players concerned, but Uruguay’s directness in possession means they do not keep the ball well and have to defend a lot, with issues particularly when defending counter-attacks.

Bentancur was the second-most booked South American player in World Cup qualifying, accumulating six yellow cards in 16 appearances. His 30 fouls were the fourth-most on the continent, but matched his number of interceptions.

One thing to watch for

Goals from throw-ins.

Given their abundance of penalty-box forwards who can finish one-touch from crosses — Suarez, Cavani, Nunez — it makes sense that Uruguay utilise any opportunity to create angles to cross.

Against Venezuela and Chile in qualifying and in that Canada friendly (see below), they created goals from throw-ins. Typically this involved the thrower aiming for a No 9, who would look to return the pass out wide, spin and attack the box.

Thursday, November 24: Uruguay vs South Korea, Education City Stadium (8am ET/1pm GMT)

Thursday, November 24: Portugal vs Ghana, Stadium 974 (11am ET/4pm GMT)

Monday, November 28: South Korea vs Ghana, Education City Stadium (8am ET/1pm GMT)

Monday, November 28: Portugal vs Uruguay, Lusail Iconic Stadium (2pm ET/7pm GMT)

Friday, December 2: South Korea vs Portugal, Education City Stadium (10am ET/3pm GMT)

Friday, December 2: Ghana vs Uruguay, Al Janoub Stadium (10am ET/3pm GMT)

(Photos: Getty Images/Design: Sam Richardson)