Australia vs Brasil WWC - A few thoughts
The thing that struck me most about the much needed Matildas fightback in Montpellier is that they look best when they flick the switch and go completely up tempo, moving bodies and ball forward into areas around and inside that box that poses questions of opposition defence. The ageing Brasil couldn't live with them when they eventually did.
In truth they were forced to flick the switch here having conceded two of the sloppiest and softest of goals, which highlighted a real defensive fragility, even without the high line that was so much the talking point after the opening loss to Italia.
Ante Milicic and his team had down their homework in terms of defensive shape and the plan was to press and ping Brasil deep in their half and it worked really well in the first half of the first half, but when we had the ball the play was too measured, lacking tempo and a definitive creative solution. It was fairly comfortable for Brasil.
As soon as they got a nutmeg or two going (usually by Tamires) and that press was broken, our defence melted, and it was react and panic. The Matildas became tentative, hesitating rather than pressing.
Maybe they felt aggrieved for the first pen was as soft as they come, but the reaction was exactly what we've come to expect from the Matildas over the past 15 years. Suddenly they became a little more direct, and bodies of the likes of Logarzo and Yallop started moving closer and beyond Kerr, asking question of Brasil, pulling them out of shape.
The timing of the opening goal couldn't have been better. It gave the Matildas that sniff into the break, that second half momentum, helped in no uncertain terms in that second period but some of the most generous and puzzling officiating this long time observer has witnessed.
One of the lessons here was that when teams sit back and deny Kerr the space, it's perhaps better to play to her aerial strength rather than her hold up touch at feet. That's not the Kerr strength. Give her space in transition and a lack of tightness in touch isn't such an issue. Crowd her, ball to feet, and there are less solutions.
Here the Matildas went a bit more direct, to Kerr's aerial strength, and it caused havoc.
The fact they were able to stay calm and find a solution under pressure was a good sign, and the old school never say die DNA I've certainly been begging for on social media was there, but they would know that on another day, perhaps without the VAR luck, the final result could have been very different.
Important now to use the three points to relax a bit, analyse further areas of improvement and plan thoroughly for Jamaica. Too many have been getting carried away for the past two years, and now it's just about the next match.
In truth they were forced to flick the switch here having conceded two of the sloppiest and softest of goals, which highlighted a real defensive fragility, even without the high line that was so much the talking point after the opening loss to Italia.
Ante Milicic and his team had down their homework in terms of defensive shape and the plan was to press and ping Brasil deep in their half and it worked really well in the first half of the first half, but when we had the ball the play was too measured, lacking tempo and a definitive creative solution. It was fairly comfortable for Brasil.
As soon as they got a nutmeg or two going (usually by Tamires) and that press was broken, our defence melted, and it was react and panic. The Matildas became tentative, hesitating rather than pressing.
Maybe they felt aggrieved for the first pen was as soft as they come, but the reaction was exactly what we've come to expect from the Matildas over the past 15 years. Suddenly they became a little more direct, and bodies of the likes of Logarzo and Yallop started moving closer and beyond Kerr, asking question of Brasil, pulling them out of shape.
The timing of the opening goal couldn't have been better. It gave the Matildas that sniff into the break, that second half momentum, helped in no uncertain terms in that second period but some of the most generous and puzzling officiating this long time observer has witnessed.
One of the lessons here was that when teams sit back and deny Kerr the space, it's perhaps better to play to her aerial strength rather than her hold up touch at feet. That's not the Kerr strength. Give her space in transition and a lack of tightness in touch isn't such an issue. Crowd her, ball to feet, and there are less solutions.
Here the Matildas went a bit more direct, to Kerr's aerial strength, and it caused havoc.
The fact they were able to stay calm and find a solution under pressure was a good sign, and the old school never say die DNA I've certainly been begging for on social media was there, but they would know that on another day, perhaps without the VAR luck, the final result could have been very different.
Important now to use the three points to relax a bit, analyse further areas of improvement and plan thoroughly for Jamaica. Too many have been getting carried away for the past two years, and now it's just about the next match.
posted by The Round Ball Analyst at 14.6.19
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