#030 - The World Cup Diaries - Day 19
I'll find you and I'll mark you out of the game!
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This newsletter is coming out so late because I could not access the footage to give you guys evidence of what I am talking about.
We had another penalty shootout heartbreak and a host nation produce yet another memorable night for their fans.
There was drama, there was throwback (well almost) and there was a comeback (of a country’s golden girl). There was a solid gameplan and there was a moment of brilliance.
Beyond all of this, there was a moment of shared experience at the full time whistle.
Let’s breakdown day 19 of the footballing action!
Match 53: England 0-0 Nigeria (England win 4-2 on penalties)
England had largely struggled at this World Cup and the injury to metronome, Keira Walsh, amplified just that.
After six goals in a game against China, with a change in formation and approach, all of those problems seemed to disappear.
England looked revitalized and Keira Walsh was back into the lineup when they faced Nigeria in the round of 16 at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Randy Waldrum’s side were staring at history, hoping to record their first knockout round win by producing another upset at the tournament by defeating European champions, England.
The Lionesses stuck with the 3-4-1-2 formation with Lauren James playing as the number 10 behind Alessia Russo and Lauren Hemp. In this formation they aggressively pushed their wingbacks high up with double pivot and back three providing the defensive security while James would float on the pitch and Russo would consistently show for the ball in the channels as Hemp pinned the opposition centerbacks.
Nigeria were in their 4-2-3-1 formation with star forward, Asisat Oshoala, on the bench and Rasheedat Ajibade, Uchena Kanu and Ifeoma Onumonu leading the attack. Waldrum came up with a solid plan to disrupt everything England did in possession while exploiting their vulnerable areas.
The idea was to go for a player-to-player approach and have very tight marking on Walsh and James in particular. Toni Payne did the assignment on Walsh while Halimatu Ayinde marked James throughout the game, chasing them like their shadows, taking them out of the game.
Look at this buildup sequence from England and notice how Payne is marshalling Walsh, making her a non-option. Barcelona midfielder intelligently pulls her away to open-up the passing lane to James, who is being hunted down by Ayinde. This results in the Chelsea youngster being unable to control the ball and hence in a turnover. This pestering continued throughout the game.
If you look at the passing network as well, there is a funny thing happening. If you flip Nigeria’s pass network to face towards the other way, Ayinde’s (#18 Nigeria) average location comes very close to James’ (#7 England). James would probably be sick of seeing Ayinde after this, that’s how much she followed her and did that very cleverly.
This marking was not just aimed at frustrating England’s key on-ball players but also to force England into wide areas, where Nigeria could close them down and turn the ball over.
This is a pressure map of Nigeria from the game, notice how they amped up the pressure in the wide areas in their own half, consistently directing traffic towards the touchline (shown outside) where they could engage them in duels.
This was done deliberately for two key reasons:
Nigeria had their most threatening players in transition in the wide areas (Ajibade and Onumonu).
England’s approach to push the wingbacks aggressively leaves space in those wide channel to be exploited.
They understood their opponents and played to them. A quick look at where England lost the ball in the game, underlines how effective this approach was. Look at how many times Nigeria managed to force turnovers on the flanks in their own half. They were aggressive in pushing bodies to close down the ball carrier/receiver in those areas.
This allowed them to quickly launch a counter once they regained the ball.
If you look at how Nigeria managed to enter the penalty box, their wing based approach becomes clear. Look at all the balls from the wide areas into the heart of the box, a good chunk of these chances came following a forced turnover in the wide areas and having one of the forwards attack the space in the wide channel.
England were kept quiet and frustrated. They had less shots than the Super Falcons and honestly were being outplayed by the African nation.
In a moment of growing frustration, James, like Beckham and Rooney before her, did what English starlets at the World Cup have set a precedent for. She let her frustration take the form of a rash action by stepping on Michelle Alozie following a duel between the two.
She was shown a well deserved red card, leaving her side with 10 players for the remainder of the game.
A player advantage in football is often times the most dubious advantage. For Nigeria this completely threw them off as they were now forced to be the protagonists on the ball rather than England. This made it difficult for them to create chances by reacting to England’s approach.
England managed the game well and Nigeria struggled to create good opportunities as the game went into overtime and then penalties.
Penalties are always weird to analyze. But a good start in the game culminated to a bad start in the penalty shootout for Nigeria and then Chloe Kelly happened.
The Man City winger did her typical bunny hop run-up to smash through the net and underlined why this particular England side is different than any other team that has ever been.
While England looked second best all night, Alex Greenwood was mighty impressive again. Greenwood has been the spine of Sarina Weigman’s side and has allowed her the flexibility to play with a back three or a back four. Her defending of the wide channels was superb as she read the attacks well, delayed and denied Nigeria to create really threatening opportunities. She was astute with her positioning defensively.
Beyond her defensive skills, her passing is insane. She exudes comfort on the ball while having the added advantage of being left-footed as well. She can pick out direct balls in behind and break lines with her passing. A very high volume passer by the nature, Greenwood is integral to England’s buildup scheme.
Ashleigh Plumptre represented England at the youth levels and has chosen to represent Nigeria as her country for the senior side. She has showcased her quality in every single game this tournament. The primary passer in the Super Falcon’s backline, she is solid on the ball. Has the range, vision and execution to pick out line breaking passes or combine with other players. That shot from her that rattled the bar made me jump out of my seat.
Defensively she is solid as well, her tall frame makes her an annoying presence in duel situations and aerially, while her positioning helps her in recovering loose balls. The frame also helps in having a great zone of control around her and helps her in tackling situations. Given her positional versatility and left footed nature, she won’t be a free agent for very long after this tournament.
Weigman’s side will also be without their primary open-play chance creator in James. It is not to be understated how reliant England have been on James to create goals for the side from open-play. The Euros winner have scored seven open-play goals in the tournament so far and the Chelsea youngster has been directly involved in six of those seven goals. Apart from her, England have largely struggled to muster open-play chances.
The Lionesses prepare to face Colombia next, a side who harbour a lot of their attacking prowess in the wide area again, and might once again be challenged in the same wide areas.
Match 54: Australia 2-0 Denmark
Tony Gustavsson’s Matildas were up against Lars Søndergaard’s Denmark in the round of 16 of their home tournament. Denmark were dreaming of winning their first knockout game while Matildas wanted to continue their fever dream in front of their home crowd.
It was an interesting battle. Both teams lined up in a 4-4-2 setup. Australia were still without their record goalscorer while the Danes have just figured out how to provide their star player, Pernille Harder, with the optimal platform to succeed.
Søndergaard’s side started really aggressively. They were intense and came out with the plan on their press, having studied Australia. The idea was to use the passes to Clare Hunt as the pressing trigger while keeping the double pivot in their cover shadow.
This forced Hunt to either go back or long and Denmark, being the tallest side in the competition, won the first contact on most of these long balls. This resulted in Australia being unable to string together a passing sequence.
Look at some of the examples of this in action. Look at how Hunt is forced to go back or go long due to the pressure applied by Harder.
The Danish started off brightly with this approach and for the first 15 minutes of the game Australia had no answer to this.
The world number 13 side also exposed another deficiency in Australia’s game, particularly in their out of possession setup. Gustavsson likes his side to be very aggressive in their counterpress after losing the ball and in general. They like to push bodies high up and apply pressure on the opposition backline matching them with the numbers.
This makes their 4-4-2 transform into very much a 4-2-4 out of possession. The front two marked the Danish double pivot with their cover shadow and jumped onto the centerbacks as they brought the ball out from the back.
This idea to push a player each to match the opposition backline without the rest of the side pushing up in sync to push the opposition back is a big problem. Denmark had brave and press-resistant players in the midfield who don’t hide from the ball in Katherine Kuhl and Karen Holmgaard and the former consistently escaped the cover shadow to receive the pass from the defence. This only made the problem worse.
Denmark had Harder drop deep on the right hand side, behind Australia’s line of four. This immediately created a problem for the Matildas for two reasons:
With Ellie Carpenter not closing her down, Søndergaard’s side could easily play the ball to Harder and bypass the first line of pressure. The Danish captain can then turn to face goalwards and carry the ball to break lines herself.
Harder’s presence there alone creates an overload for Australia’s double pivot to deal with. Kyra Cooney-Cross and Katrina Gorry had to shift across and deal with Denmark’s own double pivot + Harder, thus generating a player advantage.
Notice in the screenshot above with Harder (#10) near the touchline deep on the right hand side. Here she is a free player who can help Denmark progress play after receiving either via carrying or combining with her midfielders.
This 4-2-4 shape made Australia very vulnerable through the middle. Denmark could easily bypass the first line and have a easy route through their opponent as Australia’s midfield was bare bones. The defensive strain on Gorry and Cooney-Cross was immense as their aggressiveness in the pressing was imperative to generate any sort of turnover but when bypassed they have zero defensive cover to occupy the gaping hole between the midfield and defensive lines.
This is how Denmark created a lot of their shots initially in the game. Matildas had no reply for Harder’s ball carrying and looked really vulnerable due to their spacing and uncalculated aggressive approach. Harder was able to obliterate Aussie lines and generate shots for herself.
But with a tactical break, everything changed.
Sometimes a pause when you have the momentum can disrupt your flow and that is what happened with Denmark here. Steph Catley went down for medical attention and Gustavsson regrouped his troops.
We the started seeing Matildas be slightly more calm in possession, inviting the pressure while not rushing the pass. We started to see Mary Fowler be more involved by dropping deep and creating a similar sort of overload like Harder behind the Aussie first line.
This resulted in a few times when they could break through the press. The Scandinavian side still jumped on the trigger but Hunt didn’t panic and thanks to some great individual moments, Australia breached the final third.
There was also a shift in the off ball approach as instead of mindlessly pushing four players up, Matildas now sat with a compact 4-4-2 and invited Denmark to try and play through them denying them space. This was a great way to combat the transition threat Denmark were exploiting before this. This reduced the ball carrying threat of Harder as the game matured.
Then came a ‘hail Mary’ moment but it was full of finesse and class and it wasn’t desperate rather very deliberate and calculated. Fowler produced a brilliant through-ball piercing through the Danish line to find Foord. Just in a flash, Australia were in the lead despite being outplayed for a good chunk of the time.
Backs against the wall and they come out stronger instead of folding. That’s what makes this Matildas side different from their previous renditions. They know how to suffer.
Denmark pushed in the second half as well but a strike by Hayley Raso just calmed the nerves further and gave them a two goal cushion. Gustavsson’s side managed the game brilliantly beyond this by keeping the ball and knowing the gamestate favored them.
The real highlight of the second half however was the return of Australia’s golden girl, Sam Kerr. Just listen to the roar from the crowd as they realize their record goalscorer is coming on.
Caitlin Foord has been a cornerstone of Australia’s campaign so far. While playing up top in the first game didn’t help the Arsenal forward much, she has been a force to reckon with playing from a wide starting position. She is able to run at defenders, taking them on and attacking the byline. Foord had the most progressive carries (8) and take-ons (11) in the game.
Her pace and workrate are also better utilized from a wide starting position, not to mention her synergy with club teammate Steph Catley. She has been a goal threat, a creative force and an outlet for the Matildas.
One can argue, while Fowler has been exceptional on her own, the domino effect of her coming into the side has positively impacted the performance of Foord the most.
While Denmark were knocked out of the competition, once again failing to win a knockout game, Harder showed why she is two times UEFA women’s best player award winner. Denmark played to her strengths, allowing her to roam freely and to carry the ball through the middle, breaking lines and generating shots. She took on the opponent and her dribbling while in stride is exceptional as she succeeded in all of her take-ons attempt.
In her reception map, you can note the tactical bit of her dropping on the left (in front of Ellie Carpenter) discussed before as well. A fit and firing Harder is an attack on her own and one of the best players in WoSo.
Matildas will face a French side hunting for vengence for the pre-tournament friendly. Gustavsson’s side will be wary of the threat of the French side given the way the Danes exploited the gaps in their midfield.
Herve Renard’s side put Morocco to sword for this same mistake (analysis on this soon) and it will be interesting to see whether Matildas adapt, as they have done throughout this tournament, or perish.
Highlight of the day
Sports teaches us a lot of things and defeat comes for everyone is one of them.
When Kelly consoled Nnadozie and asked the cameras to be shoo away, that was a great nod to that feeling.
Also, imagine being so talented that you represent your country at the Women’s World Cup, playing every minute of it, while holding a bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology from Yale University and working part–time as cancer research technician at the Texas Children’s Hospital. That’s what Alozie does!
Another good piece. Solid analysis, think that England have a great manager who manages minds and team work (and the media) really well.