After England got the three points against Scotland (2-1) in the first game from Group D of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, it’s time for Argentina and Japan to meet and fight for the top spot in the group.
Both teams have completely opposite styles of play. It will be interesting to see if they change their ways in order to fit the opposition tactical approach.
The ex-world champions Nadeshiko Japan seem like favourites in this game, having the required experience on a big stage and more tactically mature than their opponent.
Argentina coach Carlos Borrello could not rely on lots of players with technical skills but has managed to adapt their strengths into an effective game plan by mostly using the 4-2-3-1 formation.
On the other side, Asako Takakura’s Japan have successfully built a team with strong individualities that managed to cooperate perfectly on the pitch moving around the 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 formations.
In this tactical analysis preview, we will see why Nadeshiko Japan are in a better position and how could Argentina take advantage of their expectedly limited chances.
High press and versatility
The first noticeable difference in the team’s styles of play is their high press. Argentina applies a high press with the striker Soledad Jaimes. Having in mind that Japan tend to play out from the back. The South-Americans might need to change their strategy in order to be able to stop their attacks. If they want to use the almost non-existent press smartly they need to appoint a constant second player as support.
This could turn out successful as Japan’s defensive structure would often break by the opposition players’ dragging them out of position and forcing them into individual mistakes. Combined with the team allowing play in their own half, this might be Argentina’s chance to counter-attack.
Argentina’s usually defend in a mid-block which might cause them trouble as Japan are very active in the midfield area. They might try to overload the central zones and use their pace to perform short pass combinations for distributing the ball further. Argentina’s midfield might need to take more defensive responsibilities and help with the man-marking, although dropping back is not typical for them.
Due to their defensive strategy, Argentina are vulnerable to long balls from the defence. This could be perfect for Japan as they may have the right players to expose this weakness. Saki Kumagai could be the perfect choice as the central defender as she is the leader needed in defence to steer Japan to a clean sheet but to also help with the build-up or long balls.
Wh
