Four players to the left of the ball, four to the right, and a clear space left in the middle of the wall (see photo). This is the surprising spectacle that Kristjan Asllani, the Inter Milan midfielder, witnessed as he prepared for a free kick 18 meters out, in the middle of CF Monterrey's goal during the Club World Cup. A regular at this, Esteban Andrada, the Mexican goalkeeper, deliberately chose not to protect the center of his goal. A strategy that, beyond the element of surprise, allowed the Argentinian goalkeeper to keep the ball in his sights, while also encouraging the taker to avoid choosing a side. While this risky defensive tactic worked on this play—the Albanian shot down the middle and a defender stepped in—it can easily be countered by the presence of opposing players in space to obstruct the goalkeeper or attempt to deflect the ball. In 1993, the coach of the United States national team, Bora Milutinovic, had already experimented with "the split wall," and Tony Meola, a former American goalkeeper, told the New York Times in 2012: "It was a good idea in training, but difficult to implement in a match." This didn't seem to scare Monterrey.
Brief
Four players to the left of the ball, four to the right, and a clear space left in the middle of the wall. This is the surprising spectacle that Inter Milan's midfielder witnessed as he prepared for a free kick.