FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023: How New Zealand produced the tournament’s first surprise at home to Norway – tactical analysis

Following a long-awaited start of the tournament for the locals of New Zealand and Norway — as well as the rest of the world — New Zealand exploited Norways errors along with the fact that they had their home support cheering them on and won the match 1-0.

This was the first surprise of the tournament so far. Even though New Zealand deserved their precious win, and their performance earned them three points. On the other hand, the surprise was negative from Norways side since the team failed to start the competition as they should and gave away three critical points in a group including New Zealand, Switzerland and the Philippines.

It is true that Norway still have a chance to recover from their first loss and make up for it when they meet Switzerland on Tuesday. Yet, the mission against a powerful team like Switzerland will not be easy even though Norway better in terms of quality on paper.

This match proved once again, after the friendly encounter between New Zealand and Norway last year, that Norway are not 100% ready for such a tournament, especially from a defensive perspective. This tactical analysis article will explore Norways errors and how to fix them. Plus, the analysis will cover how New Zealand won the game in terms of their tactics.

Lineups

Jitka Klimková preferred to start the match with the 4-4-2 formation, featuring two compact lines of defence. Victoria Esson was the goalkeeper, while she went with CJ Bott, Rebekah Stott, Katie Bowen and Ali Riley in defence. Indiah-Paige Riley and Betsy Hassett played as the wingers, while Ria Percival and Malia Steinmetz occupied the space between them as central midfielders. Finally, Jacqui Hand and Hannah Wilkinson formed the teams attacking duo at the top of the pitch.

On the other side of things, Norways head coach Hege Riise started the game using the 4-3-3 formation with Aurora Mikalsen as the goalkeeper behind Thea Bjelde, Chelseas Maren Mjelde, Mathilde Harviken and Tuva Hansen in defence. Arsenals Frida Maanum, Barcelonas Ingrid Syrstad Engen and Chelseas Guro Reiten formed the midfield trio. At the same time, Caroline Graham Hansen and Manchester Citys Julie Blakstad played as wingers alongside Lyons Ada Hegerberg, who was the teams striker.

Norways defensive and attacking issues

This first fixture of the Womens World Cup showed that Norway are not in their best form at the moment and that the quality existing in this team is not being exploited as required. The team has some of the best players in the world, especially in midfield and attack, yet they failed to create dangerous chances or score goals against New Zealand. Even more problematic is that they conceded a goal and could have conceded other goals, too, due to some perilous defensive mistakes. We cannot blame the players only for such errors, as the coaching staff has got a lot to do with this too; they are the ones who organise this defence, after all.

For example, deciding to play with a very high defensive line at specific moments in the match proved risky. It brought a lot of problems to the team, mainly because New Zealand relied on counterattacks and exploited the spaces left behind Norways defence. This opportunity shows how advanced the defensive line was during one counterattack that could lead to a goal if Wilkinson dealt more precisely with the through pass she received.