Italy finished their match against Iceland with a draw that doesn’t suit the two teams yet keeps their qualification chances alive ahead of the third and last UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 group stage fixture. In fact, France are actually the leader of group D with six points thanks to two wins against Italy and Belgium. At the same time, Iceland were successful in collecting two points out of their two games played against Belgium and Italy, while having to face France in the final fixture, and that’s what limits their qualification possibilities.
On the other side, Italy suffered a heavy 5-1 loss against France in the first fixture and that clearly affected their morale and changed their plans. And after drawing against Iceland, Italy put themselves in a risky situation that requires three points from their next Belgium match by any means, otherwise, Italy will not be able to qualify for the quarter-finals. In this tactical analysis article, the focus will mainly be on Italy’s performance. The analysis will look at Italy’s attacking performance to explore what they lacked in order to win and what went well for them while at the same time looking at how Iceland exploited Italy’s defensive fragility to score their early goal.
Lineups
Italy’s head coach, Milena Bertolini, preferred to change from the 4-3-3 formation used against France and rely on the 4-4-2 in order to make use of two strikers upfront and have two defensive lines of four each. The team was made up of Milan’s Laura Giuliani, Lucia Di Guglielmo, Juventus’s Sara Gama, Elena Linari and Lisa Boattin in defence, Martina Rosucci and Inter Milan’s Flamini Simonetti as central midfielders, Valentina Bergamaschi and Arianna Caruso on the wings while Martina Piemonte and Valentina Giacinti formed the team’s attacking duo, knowing that Cristiana Girelli was subbed on for Piemonte during the second-half. Moreover, one of the best Serie A players, Barbara Bonansea, was subbed on at the start of the second half as well to replace Caruso and give the assist for the Azzurre’s first and sole goal.
On the other side, Iceland’s head coach, Jón Þór Hauksson, started the match according to the 4-3-3 formation with Sandra Sigurðardóttir as a goalkeeper, Elísa Viðarsdóttir, Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir, Guðrún Arnardóttir and Hallbera Guðný Gísladóttir in defence, Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir, Dagný Brynjarsdóttir and Gunnhildur Yrsa Jónsdóttir as central midfielders, Karólína Lea Vilhjálmsdóttir and Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir on the wings while Berglind Björg Þorvaldsdóttir was the team’s striker.
Icelands exploitation of Italys defensive fragility
Iceland knew how to approach this game and how to snatch their needed point by being able to score early in the game before retreating and relying on their defensive resistance to prevent Italy from equalising. And although Italy succeeded in scoring during the second half, Iceland kept resisting and didn’t allow Italy to win the match despite conceding numerous opportunities, especially during the second half when Italy completely believed in their winning chances and attacked with all their strength. However, Iceland’s goalkeeper was attentive enough during most opportunities especially when defenders were not able to stop the Italian attacks.
But way before t
