Day 4: A day for centre-backs
Underestimate anyone at this World Cup at your peril
France 0 - Jamaica 0
Jamaica picked up their first ever World Cup point (and played a first World Cup game which did not involve a hattrick being scored against them) as they held France to a 0-0 draw. France had a very shonky start but on another day they would have won this one, as Jamaica tired towards the end and gaps were exploited by the impressive Kenza Dali who came off the bench.
I have sympathy for Herve Renard trying to get a strong team together because every time he puts all his pieces on the table, someone goes and gets injured. There was no Elise de Almeida or Selma Bacha available for this match to add to the long list of those missing which includes Amandine Henry and Marie-Antoinette Katoto. But that being said, I’m not quite sure this was it. Eugenie Le Sommer and Kadidiatou Diani were too close together and Diani looked at her best when she was able to find space to run at the Jamaica defence. It all got very narrow, making it easier for Jamaica to defend the areas France were trying to play in.
Equally at points France fell into the traps Jamaica, or more appropriate Bunny Shaw, set for them. This was an intensely physical game - which culminated in Shaw being rather idiotically sent off - and the French had no qualms about literally rugby tackling Shaw if necessary. However, they surrounded her so much that when they turned over the ball, no one was in position to do anything with it.
For Jamaica, this was an incredible result in the face of some serious adversity. The only sour note will be Shaw’s red card but with Panama up next, there is a real opportunity for them to grasp hold of. The challenge of Brazil on Saturday, meanwhile, will loom large for France and Renard.
Sweden 2 - South Africa 1
Sweden required a 90th minute header from Amanda Ilestedt in order to get a win over AFCON champions South Africa. It had been a frustrating display from the Olympic silver medallists who had plenty of the ball but struggled to work it into dangerous positions. In fact, 1.55 of their total 2.2 expected goals came from set pieces with Jonna Andersson’s impressive corners leaving her with 1 expected assist.
Almost all of Sweden’s attacking play came down their right hand side as Filippa Angeldahl tried to feed the ball to Johanna Rytting Kaneryd who then looked to take on the South African defence. Angeldahl made particularly good use of vertical balls which allowed Kaneryd to run on to them as can be seen in Angeldahl’s pass map.
Kaneryd made pretty good use of the balls she received but the sheer lack of play down the left was surprising. Fridolina Rolfö is arguably the most talented Swedish player, and certainly the most in form. She had Magdalena Eriksson and Andersson behind her but they were rarely used in build-up, leaving Rolfö anonymous.
Potentially Sweden needed either a different midfielder or for Kosovare Asllani to shift over a bit. Asllani was playing as a 10 but drifted right, helping the Swedes create overloads in that part of the pitch. But it also stopped them having the opportunity to link up more on the opposite flank and shift South Africa’s defence around.
The main issue in Sweden’s attack was probably less that they all did it down one side but that Stina Blackstenius struggled to link up with Kaneryd once she got into more dangerous positions. But they can’t rely on set pieces forever, so will need to find a way to expand their attacking remit.
Netherlands 1 - Portugal 0
Another side who made the most of their set pieces today were the Dutch who took three points against Portugal thanks to a header from Stefanie van der Gragt from a Sherida Spitse free kick. Portugal are famously bad at defending set pieces as Yash Thakur wrote about last year at the Euros and it seemed not much has changed.
But I’m more intrigued by the way the Dutch looked to set up. Andries Jonker stuck with the formation we saw used in The Netherlands’ warm up game against Belgium. That means using Esmee Brugts and Victoria Pelova (both traditionally forwards) as wing-backs and pushing Sherida Spitse (traditionally a holding midfielder) back into defence. The midfield trio are very flexible, interchanging between the three of them and Lieke Martens.
The reality in this game was it gave The Netherlands very little control, as it looked like they were attempting to cover huge swathes of the pitch, with Portugal being able to have more and more of the ball as the match went on. Fortunately for The Netherlands, Portugal seemed to have zero concept of what they were supposed to do once they got the ball.
I am intrigued as to how it holds up in The Netherlands’ next match - a repeat of the 2019 final against the US. It certainly feels like it could suit a counter-attacking style of play with Brugts showing glimpses of how her pace could allow her to attack very quickly. The interchanging midfield would also lend itself nicely to giving players man-marking jobs, whilst Spitse could step into midfield if needed.
It is a heavily risky strategy, one that would involve genuinely believing that a back three with an average age of over 30 could actually marshall Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith. It also feels like an unnecessary one given that Jonkers has a very good set of players who could do something far less experimental in Damaris Egurrola, Lynn Wilms and Kerstin Casparij. But there is no doubt, it is one of the most intriguing ways we have seen a team set up at the World Cup so far.