That has been evident in the opening days of the tournament Stateside, where there have been NBA-style player walkouts and Peep Show-style ref-cam footage of goals and key incidents from the referee’s perspective.
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Esteban Andrada may not be a household name outside his native Argentina or Mexico, where he plays for Monterrey, but the 34-year-old goalkeeper has made one of the most interesting contributions to the tournament by setting up a “double wall”.
It worked, with Inter failing to score, helping Monterrey see out an impressive 1-1 draw against the Champions League runners-up. A social media buzz followed praising Monterrey for their pioneering tactic, but were they truly the first to do it?
“I played in a side that used it when I was in Denmark at Silkeborg IF under Viggo Jensen, who was an exponent of it,” he tells The i Paper.
“His thoughts were, why give the taker a big area to aim for when you can give yourself an equally better chance of saving both sides?”
Now we’re talking #doublewall pic.twitter.com/k6yWLSE0X7
— David Preece (@davidpreece12) June 18, 2025However, the strategy does have merits, according to Preece.
“As a ‘keeper, you can be tempted to cheat and anticipate the ball going over the wall and get caught out. Being more central allows you to be patient and balanced.
So, how could an attacking player adapt to facing two separate walls?
“I’m aware that this goes beyond that particular situation and it brings a broader perspective, but that’s the answer, because a player who can apply forward spin to the ball can go over the wall with a good amount of power, even from such a short range.
“If you envisage a player who is a competent, top spin hitter with this double wall, he is actually put at an advantage because the goalkeeper occupies a central position, and now both corners are exposed.”
Sylwestrzak claims that most players struggle to apply forward spin on the ball, even at elite level, which can make scoring from this type of situation harder.
“They may still hit the target, or the ball could go through the wall. There are always low percentage situations that could result in a goal. The player may hit the ball powerfully through the gap and hope that he’ll beat the goalkeeper because of the power of the shot.
Set-piece innovation isn’t always popular. Gary Neville labelled Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover “the most annoying man in football” last season.
The draft excluder – when a player lies down behind the wall – became popular in Brazil in response to Ronaldinho’s crafty, under-the-wall free-kicks, but was initially viewed with scepticism in Europe. Now, it’s practically ubiqutous across the sport.
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“When you experiment with something like this, you have to give time to implement it, and that’s what puts off coaches for trying it in-season,” Preece says.
Perhaps there could even be a situation when a goalkeeper demands a double wall and a draft excluder simultaneously. Now that would be a true innovation.
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