FIFA Women’s World Cup 2018/19 Tactical Analysis: South Africa vs China

After suffering a defeat to Spain, South Africa looked for some sort of stability against China. Another defeat would be mean that they would no longer be able to dream of qualification or of further progress. On the other hand, the Steel Roses looked for nothing less of a win. With a group containing Spain and Germany, China needed to record a win so to guarantee their chance at qualification. In this tactical analysis, we show you the tactics and the respective analysis of each team in this match of the FIFA Womens World Cup.

Formation

On the other hand, Jia Xiuquan lined up his Steel Roses in the standard 4-4-2. Shimeng Peng was the goalkeeper. The four men defensive line consisted of Liu Shanshan as a left back, Lin Yuping as a centre back, Wu Haiyan as a centre back, and Han Peng as a right back. The four-man midfield consisted of Gu Yasha as a left winger, Zhang Rui as a left centre midfielder, Yan Wang as a right central midfielder, and Wang Shuang as a right-winger. Finally, Wang Shanshan lined up as the right striker while Li Ying lined up as the left striker.

South Africa switches formation to defend Shuang and Chinas wing play

One of the characteristics in South Africa’s defence was a change in formation. When defending, the Banyana Banyana switched from a 4-5-1 to 4-1-4-1. To make this change happen, the central defensive midfielder, Mbane, would come outside the back five.