"They are a very good counterattacking team, very quick at breaking out of defence," Hodgson said.
Benítez built a superb counterattacking team round him at Liverpool, playing to his strengths, and the success was dazzling.
It was not only the end of United as a great counterattacking team; it was the end of United as a great team full stop.
Scotland were surprisingly bad, a shadow of the tight, well-drilled counterattacking team that had troubled the world champions in Dortmund in September.
We have become a counterattacking team, one that does not create many chances but has the quality to capitalise on rare opportunities.
"We believe we can hurt Germany and we've proved in the past we are a great counterattacking team," Northern Ireland's manager said.
It's worked brilliantly: the Netherlands, considered a dysfunctional dark horse before the tournament, is undefeated in World Cup play and is scheduled to meet another astutely well-organized, well-drilled counterattacking team, Costa Rica, in the quarterfinals, on Saturday.
The pace and decisiveness of Giggs and Kanchelskis, and the distribution of Schmeichel, made United a great counterattacking team almost instantly, and it became a defining feature of Ferguson's three great teams at Old Trafford.
Domingos Paciência, who will quit as Braga's manager after Wednesday's game following two years in charge at the AXA stadium, has built a counterattacking team in which the pace of Lima and Alan, whose goal eliminated Liverpool, is key.
