Tokyo’s Olympic football tournament ended on August 6, 2021 following a final match between Canada and Sweden which was only decided through penalties, to the advantage of the Canadians. Canada Women, therefore, won the gold deservedly while Sweden Women won the silver medal, which is an excellent result for them as well.
Yet, the Swedish felt the frustration of not being able to win the whole thing since they had all that was needed to finish their mission in a good fashion. The emphasis will be put on Sweden’s errors from an attacking perspective to know what went wrong for them in this match especially when knowing that they scored first but failed to keep or support their advantage in the second-half, which allowed Canada to score the equalising goal, get back in the match and win on penalties.
In this tactical analysis article, we will study how both teams approached the game and why did Sweden fail to keep their advantage and to be continuously dangerous upfront while analysing both teams’ in-game tactics and the notable individual player performances.
Line-ups
Sweden’s head coach Peter Gerhardsson started the game with the 4-4-2 formation with Hedvig Lindahl as a goalkeeper, Magdalena Eriksson, Nathalie Björn, Amanda Ilestedt and Bayern Munich’s Hanna Glas in defence, Caroline Seger and Filippa Angeldahl as central midfielders with Fridolina Rolfö, who has recently joined Barcelona, and Sofia Jakobsson as wingers and Real Madrid’s Kosovare Asllani playing as a second striker beside Stina Blackstenius, the team’s main striker.
On the other hand, Canada started the match using the 4-3-1-2 formation which gives them the right balance in defence and in attack. Stephanie Labbé was the starting goalkeeper, Ashley Lawrence, Vanessa Gilles, Kadeisha Buchanan and Allysha Chapman in defence, Desiree Scott, Quinn and Chelsea’s Jessie Fleming as central midfielders while Christine Sinclair played as an advanced playmaker just behind the two strikers Nichelle Prince and Janine Beckie.
Sweden’s attacking approach and its issues
Sweden started this game with a different approach than in the previous ones and especially with distinct player positions. They attacked with two strikers with Asllani being no longer a playmaker but on the same line with Blackstenius. Moreover, Gerhardsson preferred to switch his wingers’ roles and move Rolfö to the right-wing and Jakobsson to the left-wing. This was mostly done to get away from Bev Priestman’s possible marking instructions and surprise them with a distinct attacking plan and off the ball movements.
Nevertheless, this change was a bit risky and it was one of the reasons why Sweden struggled to score more than one goal in the match. In fact, Sweden reached the goal continuously and made 31 shots (only five on target) and despite the changes in positions, Sweden’s most dangerous chances were created from the right-wing, just like in the previous Olympics’ matches. With Glas, Rolfö and Asllani being constantly on the wing, Canada’s players were not able to cope with the quickness and agility of these players and therefore we saw many crosses and through balls towards Blackstenius and Jakobsson, even before the goal action.
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