FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 Tactical Analysis: Germany vs Nigeria

The first match of the knock-out stages of the FIFA Womens World Cup 2019 between Germany and Nigeria took place at the Stades des Alpes. Germany were the favourites and by and large, the match played out exactly as people had expected. Although Nigeria were no push-overs, Germany won the match comfortably thanks to a first-half goal from a corner, a penalty shortly after, and then another goal in the 82^nd minute due to a defensive error by Nigeria. In this tactical analysis, we’ll look at what tactics were employed by both teams, what Germany did to secure their place into the next round, and where Thomas Dennerby’s Nigeria could’ve done better.

Lineups

Germanys 3-1-5-1

Although Germany are a possession-based team, they played a hybrid of direct football along with slower surer build-up play. Often times, the goalkeeper would hit long balls towards the forward on the left-hand side or the left-back. But when they did build out from the back, it was tactically interesting and worth talking about.

Germany’s 4-4-2 turned into a 3-1-5-1 in-possession when the goalkeeper had the ball. The two centre-backs would split up and the central midfielder – Melanie Leupolz would slot in in-between them both. Both the full-backs would press on very high and the wider midfielders – Svenja Huth and Sara Däbritz would drift inside. The other central midfielder would act as the single pivot and provide a passing option in the centre or for circulating the ball to the other side. One of the forwards would stay alongside the midfielders while the other one would lead the line and try to pin back the Nigerian back-line. This was their base set-up and all of this is illustrated in the image below.