In their first matchday of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 10th-ranked Brazil will meet 53rd-ranked Jamaica. In such a difficult group, a win seems like a must for both teams. Despite being in terrible form recently, having lost all of their last nine matches and losing superstar Marta due to injury, Brazil still go into this match as the clear favourite. In this tactical preview, we will take a look at both teams’ style of play and see what tactical match-up may unfold.
Jamaica forcing a battle on the wings
Jamaica are expected to abandon their favourite 4-2-3-1 to go with a 4-4-1-1 formation. They tend to use this defensive formation against big teams to ensure good defensive cover. They will definitely need a lot of that against a good attacking team like Brazil. We expect to see a lot of the play happening in their own half, as Brazil will push them deep back to their box.
Jamaica is a team still trying to play from the back. Their back four aren’t good passers, and their goalkeeper is familiar with launching the ball up high. During the qualifying campaign though, against rather weak opponents who sit deep, their goalkeepers gradually become calmer with the ball, staying a little bit higher and stringing together passes with the defence.
However, when strongly pressed by a top side like Canada, they struggled badly to make short passes and most of the time had to clear the ball away. This will probably happen once again against a team like Brazil. If Brazil can pin the opponent deep and force them to clear the ball aimlessly, it will be easy for Brazil to win a lot of second balls, as Jamaica’s front players will be isolated against 5-6 Brazil players.
As said, their back four are rather limited in offensive contribution; they will mainly stay narrow and compact and clear the ball often.
Jamaica’s backline will mostly stay deep, especially against a strong side. They use a stopper-cover combination, which have caused them quite some issues as this will leave gaps in the backline. This tactic will not work for them against Brazil, as Brazil’s front two love to drop deep and collect the ball, at the same time opening the space for the other forward, the wingers and central midfielders to exploit.
Jamaica’s young captain Konya Plummer is a quality, assertive stopper, but she will have to refrain from stepping up too high this time. Jamaican full-backs are not great at supporting the attack, preferring to maintain the defensive shape rather than making forward runs. Lauren Silver and Dominique Bond-Flasza can sometimes be more attacking when needed, but there will be too few chances for them to do so in this match.
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