13 is considered an unlucky number in many cultures. For Portugal and Haiti that turned out to be true.
The two debutant nations were out of the tournament after showing their mettle in multiple games despite lacking the result. Both teams pushed until the very end but were unlucky or denied by the woodwork.
For the old dogs, this was a wake up call and a reminder that maybe the perceived gap in terms of fotballing level isn’t that big anymore. Maybe their gameplan is flawed, or worse, non-existent.
Today’s day saw a team reinvent the wheel, a team play with no midfield and some young stars bossing the field.
I chose to watch two teams that were touted as pre-tournament favorites. The games of choice today are: Portugal vs USA and China vs England
Let’s get into the action!
Match 39: Portugal 0-0 USA
Portugal were a width of the goalpost away from sending shockwaves across the women’s football landscape. The entire USA held it’s breath when Andrea Capeta’s shot in the 91st minute beat Alyssa Naeher and rattled the upright.
It was a moment of fragility, a moment of vulnerability for the USWNT. A crack that cannot be papered over anymore. The US had survived the storm but looked like a shadow of themselves.
This was the first time in their illustrious World Cup history that they had failed to win consecutive games. Vlatko Andonovski’s side had finished in second place, behind Netherlands, in group E after winning just one game.
The defending champions started the game in typical 4-3-3 fashion but had made some selection changes from the previous game. Rose Lavelle and Lynn Williams were starting the game in place of Savannah DeMelo and Trinity Rodman.
Fresh from their first ever World Cup win in the last game, Francisco Neto decided on switching things up and moving back to the 4-4-2 diamond formation instead of the more fluid 3-4-1-2 against Vietnam. The idea was to assert dominance in the midfield with the ball by creating a numerical overload with the diamond and hence by extension control the game with the ball.
The plan was novel and it worked.
The Iberian nation had more of the ball (55%) and had a better passing accuracy (70%) compared to the USWNT (63%). The latter of which segways nicely into the glaring problems with the American national team.
The US has struggled to strike a balance in midfield for multitude of reasons ranging from injuries to key players (Sam Mewis, Catarina Macario etc.) to coaching choices. The injuries have forced their hand to play veteran midfielder, Julie Ertz at CB during the World Cup, taking away the security and composure of hers from the buildup phase.
This has left USWNT’s buildup a little crippled.
Ertz’ substitute Andi Sullivan has fell short in providing a reliable buildup option, struggling to show up for the ball during the first phase. Against Portugal, Sullivan had the third lowest touches of any USWNT player that started the game despite being the deepest midfielder.
The pass network makes this current situation even more jarring. Let’s dissect the key talking points from it:
Sullivan (#17) has no noteworthy connections with any of her teammates while cutting an isolated figure as the DM. This lack of reliability forces US to take the wide, showing a greater inclination down the left hand side due to the presence of Crystal Dunn, or a hoof ball approach.
The overreliance on Crystal Dunn (#19) to provide the progression necessary has made the US very one-dimensional. Their progression idea has no variety and is heavily dependent on one singular player. Dunn had the most number of progressive passes in the game and touches for the US in the game.
This inability isn’t new either. Andonovski’s side hasn’t looked the comfortable sustaining long spells of possession for a while now. Against Portugal, USA had just two sequences with five or more passes that entered the final 40% of the pitch with none of those sequences registering a touch in the penalty box.
At the World Cup, the Stars and Stripes have averaged 2.5 passes per sequence against Vietnam and 2 passes per sequences against Netherlands. That number has gone down to 1.9 passes per sequence against Portugal.
This number has been on a downward trajectory the entire year.
If midfield problems weren’t bad enough already, Lavelle will be missing the round of 16 tie against Sweden (most likely). In the first two games without her starting, the USWNT severely missed the creativity or between the line presence of the Ohio born midfielder. She even topped this game for the overall value added via passing, underlining her heavy influence on the game.
The only bright spot in this doom show has been the presence of Naomi Girma. The 23-year-old has looked an assured figure at the back and marshalled the backline. She has shown solid 1v1 duel ability and been excellent at denying angle and delaying opponent shots.
But credit where it’s due for Portugal. Neto’s side were constantly able to bypass USA’s midfield generating a free player by having a numerical advantage. Dolores Silva (#14) did an excellent job of receiving and relaying it forwards to in-between line players lie Kika Nazareth and Tatiana Pinto.
The midfielders offered excellent vertical passing option and were able to reach the final third without much resistance.
The standout performer however was veteran Ana Borges.
The 33-year-old right back locked down the right hand side, delievering a solid performance on and off the ball. She managed to neutralize Sophia Smith’s threat and kept her at bay while offering good support in the final third.
The US will face Sweden for a sixth consecutive time, as has become a World Cup tradition.
Match 40: China 1-6 England
England were in jeopardy. Yet another injury looked likely to derail their campaign but the Lionesses they adapted.
Sarina Weigman, who is infamous for sticking to her guns at all times, made a formation change mid tourney. A change that would bring out some lights out football from the Lionesses.
Weigman switched to 3-5-2 formation in order to try and compensate for the loss of metronome Keira Walsh. In came Chelsea’s Jess Carter to play the wide right center-back role allowing Lucy Bronze to be positioned aggressively on the right and for Rachel Daly to do the same on the other side.
The intriguing combination was upfront where Alessia Russo started but in a target player role alongside Lauren Hemp who was playing off of her and making the runs in behind.
The arrangement was evident in the passing network as well. Hemp was the player pinning the last line while Russo dropped to link play. The Man City winger played off the last line and utilized her pace and first touch to generate separation while through on goal.
The biggest impact of this formation change was Lauren James playing as the number 10 or the creative link between the lines. The 21-year-old youngster had a incredible showing in the previous game but took her performance to an outrageous level.
England started brightly with a goal from Russo in the fourth minute and the flood gates opened. It immediately turned into blood bath.
The European Champions were 3-0 up by halftime with VAR denying them a fourth before the whistle. It didn’t get any better after half-time as England ran riot and scored another three with China managing a consolation goal.
China were in their typical 4-4-2 shape but without the experienced Zhang Rui marshalling the midfield pivot. This certainly did affect their ability to deal with in-between line players for the opposition but it was a lethargic performance from the Steel Roses.
It was interesting to watch China’s try to bring parity with England’s back three during the buildup phase. The Asian Cup winners tried a narrow front three press at times but quickly resorted to their trusted 4-4-2 again. The front two meant it was easy for England to generate a free player in defence and move the ball forwards.
Lauren James is arguably the best player for England in attack at the moment. The Chelsea winger has been impressive in every minute she has played at the World Cup. Against China, operating in the number 10 role, James put out arguably the best individual performance we will see at the tournament.
She scored twice (two outrageous goal, one outside the box curler and the other a cushioned volley), was denied one, assisted three with excellent vision and kept the ball in pressure using her body and close control. It was the certified, she is her moment from the youngster.
Arsenal’s new recruit Alessia Russo was under some criticism following her lack of goals but the forward reinstated her importance in a different role against China, highlighting her strengths with the back to goal. A look at her progressive reception map would suggest she had the licence to move laterally and receive with back to goal under pressure and then turn to lay-off or link with the teammates. Russo capped this performance with a sublime goal and looked much more threatening than in the past.
England will face Nigeria in their round of 16 game and look like a different prospect with this formation change.
In other games:
Netherlands rampant
Netherlands ran rampant against debutants Vietnam, scoring seven and finishing with the best goal difference in group E. Jill Roord and Esmee Brugts scored a brace each with the latter recreating her own goal in real time.
The Orange Lionesses recorded 42 shots in the game, accumulating an xG of 4.8. It was a good goal difference booster for the Orange Lionesses who advance to the next round as table toppers and will face South Africa or Italy in the next round.
Denmark figure out how to use Harder
The Danes seemed to have finally understood their assigment and decided to play a striker along with star player Pernille Harder. Amalie Vangsgaard started in the number nine role with Harder playing as the #10 with the freedom to roam around and carry the ball while also giving Denmark a legit aerial threat in the box.
The result was Denmark looking far more threatening than any of their previous two games bar the spell after subs against China. They did keep the ball more and were able to reach the final third more often but chance generation still needs work. Harder scored her first World Cup goal from the penalty spot and Sanni Troelsgaard scored last to seal the deal for Denmark.
Haiti on the other hand will feel unlucky. The debutants were genuinely better for long spells in each of their previous two games and threatened quite a bit against Denmark as well. The future is bright however as Haiti will have a lot of their golden generation from the 2018 matures and develops further, especially their star Melchie Dumornay.
Highlight of the day
Definitely the mind blowing individual performance from Lauren James and her outlandish brace.
A good contender would be the insane brace from Brugts for Netherlands.