Analysis: England squeeze through as co-hosts Australia march on
Penalties were the order of the day as European champions England avoided elimination after a sub-par showing against Nigeria, while Australia booked their spot with a comfortable performance...
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England’s experience seals quarter-final berth
As I said yesterday, when a game goes all the way to penalties, the tactical analysis behind the varying performances can sometimes go unnoticed.
They certainly can too when an event such as the straight red card to up until now star player Lauren James happens too, but in truth that moment actually swung the game in England’s favour.
Because until then Nigeria had an answer for every threat the Lionsesses tried to pose with their pre-game plan. Randy Waldrum made just one change, with Ifeoma Onumonu replacing Asisat Oshoala up top, keeping his solid back four and two holding midfielders firmly in place.
Sarina Wiegman too made one change as Keira Walsh’s miracle recovery culminated in almost 120 minutes of action, but stuck with the 3-5-2 system which unlocked China and made every England fan hope the goals would now flow.
They didn’t.
Nigeria had well planned for what England would try to do. With strike duo Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo again stretching play down the channels, Nigeria doubled up on both with their right-sided and left-sided full-backs and centre-backs respectively.
The gaps could have allowed room for James to roam into, but she was followed at her every move by Halimatu Ayinde, while the excellent again Christy Ucheibe did similar on Georgia Stanway.
It frustrated England who simply weren’t able to create clear chances, their best opportunities often coming from set-pieces into the box, while Nigeria also failed to really make the good positions they got into count, leading to just six shots on target between the two sides over 120 minutes.
Through Uchenna Kanu and Rasheedat Ajibade, plus Onumonu, Nigeria’s plan was to stretch England out wide when Lucy Bronze and Rachel Daly were up their pitch, but to their credit, the one element of England’s new system that is working is the back three.
All of Jess Carter (in particular), Millie Bright and Alex Greenwood were outstanding. Mary Earps was named player of the match but the three in front of her swept everything up and even when Oshoala did enter barely gave her a sniff, whether it was tackles, interceptions or winning their headers inside their own box. They are imperative to England’s build-up too, with Bright and Greenwood particularly ranking the highest for passes in the tournament so far.
There will be concern over another poor attacking performance though. Russo and Hemp cut frustrated figures, and James became so frustrated it led to a petulant act which may well have ended her tournament.
Ironically, it somewhat swung the game. Wiegman had waited longer than ever to make changes, and it was a minute too long with Ella Toone waiting to replace James on the touchline as the referee headed to the monitor before showing James a red card.
Once she was, Toone sat down and with mission complete Nigeria withdrew Ayinde from midfield, but the Super Falcons never particularly clicked after that and it became a bitty game throughout extra-time. They never came close again to punishing England as they had 11v11.
James though will be a huge loss, whether it’s only for the quarter-final or beyond. She has contributed to six of England’s eight goals, albeit her three assists have come with an xA of 0.33, but the Lionesses just don’t look like scoring from open play without her on the pitch.
Like yesterday, when it came to penalties, the better team lost, but England’s experience of big moments and shootouts appeared to pay dividends, especially when both Daly and Chloe Kelly smashed the final two penalties into the top corner, while Nigeria missed the target with two of theirs despite the early advantage of a Stanway miss.
Quarter-final spot secured, but still a lot of work to do for Wiegman and England.
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Australia keep cool heads
After the chaos, carnage and craziness of the previous two games going to penalties, this one with respect felt like a bit of a non-event through the 90 minutes.
Co-hosts Australia wouldn’t have minded. Two well-worked goals, a clean sheet, no suspensions and a return for Sam Kerr was just what the doctor ordered after the stress of a group stage which almost saw them going home.
Tony Gustavsson stuck with the same team and system which helped demolish Canada, while Lars Søndergaard made a few tweaks to his Denmark team. Some worked, some didn’t.
Janni Thomsen moved back up to the wing with Rikke Sevecke returning in defence, but Pernille Harder remaining as the number 10 behind Amalie Vangsgaard meant Josefine Hasbo was on the bench. Hasbo has formed a good partnership with Karen Holmgaard so far in this tournament, with seven interceptions each in the midfield, but Kathrine Kühl was preferred again in a position which doesn’t really let her influence the game as move going forward due to the presence of Harder.
Kühl was withdrawn later on for Hasbo, but Australia was already 2-0 up. But, it’s understandable, because when you have a player like Harder you build around her and she was by far and away the most dangerous player early on as Australia actually took some time to get going.
Australia rank very low for high turnovers and high presses in this tournament, and they were all too content early on to let Denmark have the ball, but they couldn’t punish the co-hosts before they clicked into gear.
When they did, it was a familiar combination. This time though it was Mary Fowler teeing up Caitlin Foord rather than the other way around, and moving Foord to the left the last two games has brought great reward for Gustavsson and his team.
Foord had only managed one shot on target from her 12 attempts so far this tournament, but buried this one after Fowler had dropped deep, swivelled and played a sublime ball down the left channel for the Arsenal star to run onto.
The combination of Fowler and Emily van Egmond has worked nicely, with both alternating at dropping deep to get on the ball and the other going forward, allowing Foord to stretch play and get behind, as well as Hayley Raso on the other side, similar to how Japan has used their forwards to drop deep and get midfielders running beyond.
The second goal was a neat combination of all four in tandem. Foord cut in from the left and found Fowler, she then found Van Egmond on the edge of the box who teed up Raso for a cool finish for her third goal in two games.
At that point, Denmark had little answer as Australia started to make their width once again pay, and both Foord and Raso are now taking this tournament by storm, complimented by quality full-backs in Steph Catley and Ellie Carpenter respectively.