England vs. Denmark
Group D of the 2022/23 FIFA Women’s World Cup heats up on Friday when joint leaders England and Denmark square off in Perth. Both teams opened their tournaments with slender respective 1-0 victories against Haiti and China. Denmark’s tactics from their win over the Steel Roses featured plenty of nuance and alteration. As we shall see in our first examination of the defending European Champions here on the ShePlays blog, England are sticking with Sarina Wiegman’s regular system.
England
The defending European champions – not unlike the USWNT – find themselves the subjects of much closer scrutiny than in years past. Descriptions of the opening round victory over Haiti utilized intensely unflattering language. Whereas journalists and analysts would have labelled the 1-0 win “workmanlike” in the past (and indeed did so when describing an Euro opener captured by the same scoreline last year) many reverted to adjectives such as “grisly”, “choppy”, or even “ugly” this time.
Female footballing enthusiasts certainly appreciate the fact that the sport now attracts ever more passionate opinions. In point of fact, grand tactical debates amongst experts and fans serve to raise the profile of the game. Of course – and this holds true for virtually any sport – much of the armchair analysis remains hyperbolic. The author (correctly) predicted that USWNT head-coach Vlatko Andonovski wouldn’t change his starting XI in the second match. The famously averse-to-change Sarina Wiegman will probably retain her system here.
The primary reason for this is that the England manager has a clear plan in place.
Lineup—England—Match One (4-2-3-1)
In both the 2017 and 2019 Euros, Wiegman built what is sometimes referred to in tactics circles as “step-stone” constellations. The particular variant she’s partial to is known as a “six-seven-eight” stagger. One holding midfielder works as the anchoring six. Two wingers and a flexible anchoring midfield attacker compensate for the fact that there is no set ten. Heavy rotations on the second and third axes give a quartet of players a chance to function as the sevens and the eight.
Depending on how the match unfolds, the shape can look like a planned 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1 on the overhead. Having given England’s initial tournament match a detailed scout, the author comes to the conclusion that Wiegman is actually running the exact same system she did last summer. Ella Toone takes over Frank Kirby’s role. Chloe Kelly replaces Beth Mead directly. No trickery from the trainer here. With ample license for creativity and improvisation, the Lionesses are following the same game plan.
Does the fact that it displays some signs of stagnation merit cause for concern? Not really. Kelly and Lauren Hemp had their moments on the flanks. Ella Toone moved in and around the box with deft awareness. Her colleagues weren’t exactly on the same page with her just yet. It happens. Millie Bright requires some more time to play herself into form on the way back from injury. Lucy Bronze had to hang back a tad to help, also because Keira Walsh’s traction never really got rolling. As a result, the superstar right-back had an “off night”.
If there is to be a personnel change, Wiegman will start Rachel Daly at left-back and move Alex Greenwood into central defense. Matters get even more familiar still as Daly worked that exact role in last Summer’s Euros. Everything falls back into its usual place. The writer’s opinion holds that Greenwood – who produced some good deliveries into the box – will retain her fullback role for now. Daly – along with solid-looking sub Lauren James – could conceivably be introduced earlier if Wiegman feels the match slipping away from her.
Apropos familiar scenes from last Summer, the current European Champions pulled a thrashing against a Scandinavian side (Norway) out of nowhere in their second group stage fixture some twelve months ago. Signs point to a potential repeat of just such an occurrence this year. Upcoming opponents Denmark exhibit unsorted tactics. Danish trainer Lars Søndergaard employed two radically different shapes in the opening round victory over China. Despite being in charge of the program for quite some time, Søndergaard continues to search for his best XI.
Denmark
A team that features the likes of Pernille Harder, Sofie Svava, Signe Bruun, and Simon Boye can reasonably be expected to perform better. So much rests on whether or not Søndergaard can align his attackers properly so as to properly maximize the counter potential out of the experienced back-three. One conjectures that he arrived at his next XI via his late match re-format in the winning effort against the Chinese.
There are two phenoms in the Danish squad who sit on the precipice of breaking through for their country. New Arsenal Ladies attacker Kathrine Møller Kühl has yet to showcase her explosive side on this stage. Havard student Josephine Hasbo possesses all the tools to rise to the status of a household name. Perhaps the two risers might have something in store for us here.