FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 Tactical Preview: Scotland vs Argentina

As both teams need a victory in an attempt to avoid an early exit, we can expect to see an open game as Scotland take on Argentina in their final Group D game.

With England and Japan having already qualified, one of Scotland or Argentina may be able to make it through to the round of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams. Argentina have a head-start in that regard since they already have one point on the board from their 0-0 draw against Japan in their first game.

Scotland, on the other hand, are yet to pick up any points after two consecutive 2-1 defeats to England and Japan respectively.

This tactical analysis preview will address some of the tactical aspects to look out for in Wednesdays game at Parc des Princes.

Formations

Manager Shelley Kerr set her team out in a 4-2-3-1 shape against England before preferring a flat 4-4-2 set-up in Scotland’s second game against Japan. With the difference between the two systems being so fine, we won’t really know until we see whether whoever partners Erin Cuthbert up front does so alongside her or from a deeper position between the lines.

In their pre-tournament friendlies, Argentina had also lined up in a 4-2-3-1 shape with Estefanía Banini taking centre stage as the side’s ‘number 10’. However, so far in the competition Banini has been used on the left-hand side of a more conservative 4-5-1 set-up.

In their opening two games, Argentina manager Carlos Borrello chose to include Boca Juniors’ Lorena Benítez in a midfield five as they come up against stronger opposition in Japan and England.

Wednesday’s opponent’s Scotland are a different proposition though. Not only are the two sides more evenly matched, but it is a must-win game for Argentina, who will have to take risks in search of the three points. It will be interesting to see whether this prompts Borrello into fielding a more attacking line-up, sacrificing one of the midfield three for another winger, thus allowing Banini to return to her natural position in the hole.

Scotland’s build-up

We have seen from Scotland’s previous games that they like to play out from the back. They are able to do this successfully because they have a very capable playmaker in Caroline Weir. The Manchester City midfielder is comfortable in taking possession of the ball under pressure, which is why she can often be seen dropping in between the two centre-backs, exchanging short passes with them to help her side progress up the pitch.

As can be seen in the image below from the game against Japan, the three of them outnumbered the two strikers who formed the first line of Japan’s press, which in turn meant they could progress with the ball up to the half-way line. From here Weir could play dangerous balls out to the flanks to create 1v1 situations.

There will be a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of the likes of striker Sole Jaimes and midfielder Banini (should she play in the centre) to effectively press Scotland’s back-line and prevent passing lanes into midfielders like Weir who drop back.

This is because Argentina do not usually press high up the pitch in numbers, but instead maintain their shape, which often means retreating towards their own goal and allowing the opposition to bring the ball forward as in the image below from their game against England.