Kamikaze (soccer formation)

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This 1-6-3 formation was first utilized by the Japanese national soccer team at the behest of General Yoshijiro Umezu in 1936, famously Japan defeated the heavily favored Swedish team 3-2 at the 1936 Olympics with the unorthodox 1-6-3 formation, before going down 8-0 to the Italian team. The formation was dubbed the "kamikaze" formation sometime in the 1960s when former US national team player Walter Bahr used it for a limited number of games as coach of the Philadelphia Spartans to garner greater media and fan attention for the struggling franchise.

[edit] References

Radnedge, Keir; Robson, Bobby. [2007] The Complete Encyclopedia of Soccer.