The sweeper role typically worked with two stoppers(or man markers) in front of the sweeper and usually the formation was 3-5-2. Teams with this formation would also typically deploy two wingbacks who would work the flanks, there would also typically be two defensive midfielders with a playmaker positioned just in front of them. There would also typically be two strikers in such formations. Germany used this system for years since the days of Beckenbauer and up until the year 2000. Indeed Germany also won the 1990 World Cup and the 1996 European Championships playing with the sweeper formation. Matthias Sammer was the sweeper in Germany's 1996 European Championship winning team and he was arguably their best player. Also in the 1990's, Lothar Matthaus was another German sweeper who brilliantly performed in the role. It was not until after the European Championships in the year 2000, when Germany under the management of Rudi Voller decided to finally stop playing with a sweeper. The main reason for this was because by German standards Germany had a poor European Championships in 2000, as they didn't qualify from their group and performed poorly in general. Personally, I think the real reason Germany underperformed in the year 2000 is because they had a very ageing team and I think regardless of what formation they played, they still would of underperformed. Teams that played with a sweeper did not play the offside trap in general as it would be quite hard to operate with a sweeper in the team, instead of a flat back line. Although a few teams with the sweeper formation did deploy the offside trap, but as you can imagine it would have been tricky and it asked a lot of responsibility from the sweeper. Finally, you ask if the sweeper(or libero) formation would work today? Well that is quite a tough question to answer as I can't think of any teams that use a sweeper in todays day and age. It is now for some reason considered an old fashioned formation. One of the reasons that such a formation is no longer used is because as you can imagine it requires huge responsibility from the sweeper himself as his role and performance is pivitol to the teams success. It requires world class players like Franz Beckenbauer,Lothar Mattheaus and Matthis Sammer to fill such roles, but sadly today there aren't many players of their class to fill the sweeper position in this day and age, this formation also asked a lot from the wingbacks as they had to defend plus attack and supply crosses. That's why most managers today opt against playing with a sweeper formation. Perhaps the sweeper formation could work today, but it would require having a top class player to perfect the hugely demanding sweeper role.

How did Beckebauer's sweeper role in Germany's defence work? The German team played a back 3 with Beckenbauer in behind as a sort of extra 1 man defensive line. I used to play the same role for my local 7-a-side team, but obviously we didn't play the offside rule, so how did Beckenbauer's position fit into an 11-a-side formation; and how did they keep their defensive offside trap? And could this 1-3-3-3 formation work in the mordern game?