From the universality of Total Football to the Petrosian-like stoutness of Jose Mourinho, it has always been said football has an evolutionary or permutable quality.

Rules have sometimes influenced dominant tactics, much like changes to offside laws creating the W-M formation, or the back-pass rule facilitating the implementation of targeted pressing and higher defensive lines.

More often than not, however, tactical shifts and trends are based on ideology.

And so when Qatar comfortably defeated...

The last time Borussia Dortmund won the Bundesliga back in 2012, Shinji Kagawa was a crucial part of the team.

Fast-forward to now, as the German side sit pretty on top of the table heading into February, the 29-year-old is a bit player at best. Still, that is more than he manages with his homeland.

The last time Japan became Asian champions in 2011, the playmaker was one of the stars. As he watches his compatriots on television on Friday in the final of the 2019 Asian Cup against Qatar, Kagawa...

The newly-expanded 2019 Asian Cup that kicks off on Saturday in Abu Dhabi with hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE) against Bahrain may feature some new teams but those contesting the final on Feb. 1 in the same city are likely to be more than familiar.

The usual quartet of Japan, South Korea, Australia and Iran are favourites among a field that now contains 24 runners instead of 16. Only the last of that quartet still have the same coach in the UAE as they had in Russia last summer at the World Cup....