What happened to 451 and 442?

It might just be a somewhat skewed observation, or a real shift at this world cup. 4-3-3, 4-3-2-1, 4-2-3-1, etc seem to be the norm in the manner teams set up to play. Whichever way you look at it, thats an extra player in attack and more space at the back to exploit/ be exploited. Of all the teams the one still playing a more crowded backline is...yes, Brazil! For those who remember that wily, tough, and often ugly holding midfield days of his, that is Dunga doing his thing. It might have something to do, as well, with the coach wanting Gilberto (smile, Gunners fans) on the pitch.

But is this a shift in the way managers and coaches strategize OR just a way to ensure that matches don' t spill into extra-time (the phenomenon that labourers the world over and Americans call over-time), thus preserving the players for business end of this world cup and the next gruelling club season?

If it is a longer term shift in strategy, then we could get more of the passing, off-the-ball running, quick breaks, and ball-control treat that the likes of Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Ghana, and Japan have dished out thus far. Spain and Portugal are missing from that list only because I haven't managed to catch any of their games. The only endogeneous reason I can see for this shift is player preservation, and it almost goes hand in hand that coaches will then revert to a more crowded backline as soon as a really important game (read 'club') comes up. But that is being overly pessimistic about what insights coaches would glean from this experiment. It is already quite clear that with no 4-5-1/ 4-2-2 goalkeepers' quality is out in the open and in the spotlight - with there being that many more shots on goal.