Is possession in football overrated?

No-one had more possession or passed the ball more at the World Cup than Spain and Germany, yet both traditional powerhouses went out early in the tournament.
Winners France had an average of 48% possession, less than Australia, Tunisia and Morocco.

Goals from open and set play.

No-one scored more set-play goals than England's nine in Russia, while their four from corners was another World Cup high.

Running smarter not harder.

Only four teams covered less distance than France per game - Argentina, Nigeria, Mexico and Panama.
“...energy levels and mental sharpness need to be conserved as far as possible."

Average shots outside area per goal.

Only hosts Russia were more clinical than France's 9.5 shots per goal from outside the area. Croatia had 54 shots for one goal from the same range, while Germany's 36 shots from outside the area brought no reward.

And, having a playmaker to "speed up or slow down the tempo, switch play, create and make things happen" seemed to provide the most telling difference of all.
Luka Modric and Paul Pogba, helped Croatia and France respectively reach the final.
Andrea Pirlo was instrumental in Italy's 2006 World Cup win, how Andres Iniesta and Xavi pulled the strings in Spain's 2010 success and how Bastian Schweinsteiger was Germany's chief orchestrator four years ago in Brazil.


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...some of the trends that emerged from Russia, according to Fifa's technical study group, which has produced its analysis of the tournament


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Bottom line is you can have 95% procession but get beat 1-0
I think that scoring goals is the best master plan lol