Zona mista

Zona mista (Italian for 'mixed zone'; Italian pronunciation: [ˈdzɔːna ˈmista]), often referred to as mixed plan (modulo misto)[1] and, in the English-speaking world, as the game in Italian style (gioco all'italiana); is a tactic used in Italian association football mainly from the second half of 1970s to the mid-1990s. The introduction of this system has been attributed to Luigi Radice and Giovanni Trapattoni, then coaches of Torino and Juventus, respectively.[2] The tactic reached the highest sporting level with Juventus headcoached by Trapattoni becoming the first club in history to reach the European Treble having won the then three seasonal UEFA competitions and, in 1985, the first European side to win the Intercontinental Cup since it was restructured five years before, becoming world champion,[3] and the Italy national team, managed by Enzo Bearzot, which won the FIFA World Cup in 1982, for the first time since 1938, with notable participation from the Blocco-Juve;[4] making both teams acclaimed as among the greatest in sports history.[5][6]

Regarded as the tactical evolution of catenaccio,[7] zona mista requires each outfield player to perform, systematically and simultaneously, the zonal marking, the changing of positions and continuous attack on the spaces characteristic of Total Football, but also engaging in the defensive individual marking characteristic at the time of Italian football. In this system, a player who moves out of his position is replaced by another from his team, thus retaining the team's intended organisational structure, and each player performs a different function. Also, the effectiveness and speed of the transition between the defensive and offensive phases, in order to put the opponent's rearguard in difficulty, plays a more important role in the match score than maintaining greater ball possession.[8] Several players, such as the sweeper (libero), the attacking full-back (terzino fluidificante), the returning winger (ala tornante) and the inside forward (mezzala) simultaneously play roles in both defence and attack, while the playmaker (regista) (e.g. Michel Platini, Lothar Matthäus or Roberto Baggio) regularly runs to the opponents' box to try to score. This flexibility made it much more versatile, fluid and offensive than the rigid standard scheme used in Italy at the time.[7][9] Although it is one of the first to use four defenders, zona mista is aesthetically more related to formations which succeeded it: 3–5–2 and an asymmetric 4–3–3 system.[10][11]

Zona mista proved highly successful at national and international level: with it, Torino won the 1975–76 Serie A, its first after the Superga air disaster; Juventus performed some of its finest football ever, setting the most enduring dynasty in the history of Italian football theretofore by winning six league titles and two cups in ten years.[12] Juventus then extended this success to the international arena, starting in 1977 when the club won the UEFA Cup without using any foreign players, an unprecedented achievement for any country's team.[13] Subsequently, it lifted the Cup Winners' Cup, the European Champions Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, making it the first club to have won all possible official international competitions.[3] These achievements lifted the Serie A for the first time to the top of the confederation ranking at the end of the 1985–86 season, a position maintained for the following three seasons.[14]

  1. ^ Chiesa, Carlo Felice (December 1999). "Le tattiche: La zona (3º parte)". Calcio 2000 (in Italian). No. 12 [25]. pp. 121–122. ISSN 1126-1056.
  2. ^ Francesco Camerani (22 February 2014). "Trap l'africano sarà CT della Costa d'Avorio Entrerà in carica dopo i Mondiali, fino al 2018 La nuova avventura dell'allenatore infinito, in panchina a 75 anni Manca l'ufficialità, ma sembra tutto fatto". L'Unità (in Italian). p. 23. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  3. ^ a b "1985: Juventus end European drought". Union des Associations Européennes de Football. 8 December 1985. Archived from the original on 8 December 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  4. ^ Garanzini, Gigi (2002). "BEARZOT, Enzo". Enciclopedia dello Sport Treccani (in Italian). Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  5. ^ "Juventus". Football's Greatest Teams. Episode 10. Pitch International. 18 October 2014. Event occurs at 23:41. SKY Sports 5 HD.
  6. ^ "Os Esquadrões: Juventus" [The Greatest Teams: Juventus]. Placar (in Portuguese). No. 1064. October 1991. pp. 32–35. ISSN 0104-1762. pt: Merecidamente, a Velha Senhora era campeã do mundo, um título sob medida para o melhor time da primeira metade da década de [19]80. [[...] Deservedly, the Old Lady were world champions, a title tailored to the best team of the first half of the [19]80s.]
  7. ^ a b "3-5-2, che passione!!" (in Italian). 16 October 2013. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  8. ^ Zucchelli, Nicola (28 June 2019). "Analisi tattica: La Juventus di Giovanni Trapattoni" (in Italian).
  9. ^ Chiesa, Carlo F. (2010). Il secolo azzurro: 1910-2010 (in Italian). Minerva. p. 82. ISBN 978-8873-81310-1.
  10. ^ Wilson, Jonathan (2013). "The Return of the Back 3". Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics. News York: Nation Books. ISBN 978-156858-96-33.
  11. ^ "Zona mista" (in Italian). Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  12. ^ Bruno Colombero (6 March 1994). "Cicli d'oro firmati da grandi campioni" (in Italian). La Stampa. p. 5. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  13. ^ Sergio Di Cesare (1 April 2008). "Hard work pays off for Zoff". Union des Associations Européennes de Football. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
  14. ^ "UEFA Country Coefficients 1985/1986". Retrieved 16 November 2014.