Sweden vs. Italy
A European North-South battle kicks off the action on the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup’s tenth match-day. Sweden and Italy are deadlocked atop Group G after respective one-goal wins in their tournament openers. The two footballing nations last met in the 2022 Algarve Cup Final in Portugal. Sweden won on penalties after the two sides couldn’t be separated.
While the Swedes are considered contenders in just about every tournament they participate in, the upstart Italians surprised everyone with a punch-through to the 2019 WWC quarterfinals. Le Azzurre radically altered the perception of their sport within their own country with that run. The Italian women’s top division finally went professional in part thanks to them.
Italian football fans themselves can boast about their recent European Championship, but still haven’t been able to watch their men’s team compete in a World Cup for over nine years. If the women can engineer another deep run here, they can accomplish much for both their sport and their country. A great fixture gets Day 10 started in Wellington.
Sweden
Swedish trainer Peter Gerhardsson’s tactics routinely serve as the ultimate “black box”. The long-time head-of-the-program alternates constellations and rotates in a large cast of characters in every qualifying campaign and tournament. It’s full-on “Heisenberg Uncertainty” whenever dealing with the Blaugults. He kept us all guessing in the run to the semi-finals in last summer’s Euros and the third-place finish during the 2019 tournament.
The primary reason why this lineup remains so difficult to predict relates to the fact that Gerhardsson always stacks his roster with four to six players capable of playing center forward, plus nearly ten attackers that can serve just about anywhere on the forward line. In the last tournament, he mostly stuck with a 4-3-3 variant, but used the same three players up top in just two of his squad’s five fixtures. He’s been at it again in qualifying and the pre-tournament friendlies, throwing out something different every time.
Lineup—Sweden—Match One (3-4-3)
This might have been the basic constellation. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd – as she’s want to do – bombs all the way up and down the right flank that one can never really tell if she’s supposed to function as a winger, wingback, or even fullback. The legendary Kosovare Asllani – for good reason – roams about pretty much wherever she wants to. It did look as if she had something of an anchoring midfielder assignment on some charges. The author honestly has no clue if Fridolina Rolfø was supposed to serve alongside Stina Blackstenius or not. It’s complicated.
When Gerhardsson starts bringing on his three other center-forward capable players off the bench – Olivia Schough, Rebecka Blomqvist. and Lina Hurtig – in off the bench, one sometimes simply has to give up and stick straws in one’s hair. The permutations are endless. This teams veteran legends Caroline Seger and Sofia Jakobsson have had so many different positional lives in their long careers. That applies to Asllani as well. Now that Rolfø has extensive experience playing as a left-back for Barça, it gets even more complicated.
What can one ultimately do? Mostly enjoy piecing the puzzle together and hopefully enjoy some exciting football as well. The Swedes had the rare honor of delivering both two of the thrilling and two of the more dull fixtures in last Summer’s competition. The South Africans did an excellent job of containing Sweden’s complex attack in the opener, but Rølfo, Asllani, and Kaneryd maneuvered around until they eventually found the type of space they needed to influence the match. A team that could go deep into this tournament displays signs of clicking early.
Italy
The 2019 Cinderellas took the first steps towards rebounding from a disappointing Euros with a 1-0 win over the ever-determined Argentines in their opener. One really didn’t know what to expect from this side after head-coach Milena Bertolini dropped heavily-capped veterans Aurora Galli and Sara Gama from her selection earlier this year. A starter (Valentina Bergamaschi) and a scorer (Martina Piemonte) also didn’t survive the final cut.
Bertolini’s current squad still boasts plenty of experience. The Italian manager could conceivably put together the type of fearless 4-3-3 that shocked the world with those two amazing group stage wins four years ago. For now, it looks like Bertolini favors a 4-2-3-1. The big news concerns the fact that 16-year-old mega-phenom Giulia Dragoni is starting alongside everyone’s favorite live-wire Manuela Giugliano.
Lineup—Italy—Match One (4-2-3-1)
Giugliano and Dragoni operate with a wide berth for a set of sixes, yet still manage to link up with each other well. Both played a good match, but Giugliano.in particular looked to be in fine form. She attempted three efforts on target herself and narrowly missed out on garnering an assist with an excellently threaded cross for Valentina Giacinti. Captain Cristiana Girelli came off the bench to score the 1-0 winner late on. It’s possible she might start in a 4-4-2 in the upcoming match.
There’s a lot to like about this Italian squad. New keeper Francesca Durante made two strong saves in the second half. The counter, which usually runs through Bonansea’s side, maintains its old potential. Two disallowed offside goals (Caruso and Giacinti) left the first half feeling a little disjointed. The team still grew into the game and builds during the second 45 had a more fluid feel to them. Much remains possible for this team if they can build upon the solid opening work.