The Netherlands will be facing Nadeshiko Japan in the round of 16 of FIFA Womens World Cup 2019.
Sarina Wiegman brought her side into the round of 16 perhaps with ease. Her side won all three matches, defeating the likes of New Zealand, Cameroon, and even Canada to top the table.
The same thing cant really be said about Asako Takakuras team. The Nadeshiko Japan only managed to edge themselves past the strong group D which contains teams like England, Argentina, and Scotland. With a win, a draw, and a loss in each of the three games theyve played, Japan who finished as runners-up in the last edition of the FIFA Womens World Cup are expected to do much better if theyre looking to down a strong Netherlands side.
This could potentially be an exciting clash, largely due to both teams exciting style of play. Well take a closer look at how both teams will set themselves up in the match on Tuesday in this tactical preview.
Both teams potential setup
Netherlands
The Netherlands have always played with the same 4-3-3 system since day one in this competition. Wiegman also seemed to prefer playing the same team throughout their campaign. The only changes in the starting lineup that we have seen so far were Anouk Dekker who has been starting ahead of Stefanie van der Gragt in the last two games and Merel van Dongen who played brilliantly the last time out as she replaced Kika van Es. It seems quite likely that were going to see a familiar setup again in the next game.
Predicted starting XI: van Veenendaal van Lunteren, Dekker, Bloodworth, van Es Spitse Groenen, van de Donk van de Sanden, Martens Miedema
Japan
Just like the Netherlands, Japan have always played with the same setup in this tournament a classic 4-4-2.
But unlike Wiegman, Takakura tended to make a small rotation in her squad in every game.
Predicted starting XI: Yamashita Shimizu, Kumagai, Minami, Sameshima Nakajima, Miura, Sugita, Hasegawa Sugasawa, Iwabuchi
Netherlands attacking style of play analysis
Diagonal long passes from the back
Wiegmans side plays out from the back quite a lot, but they always want to advance quickly. This is why we see a lot of long forward passes from behind, usually diagonally.
In the previous tactical preview of the Netherlands, we have mentioned that the players that are responsible for these passes are Bloodworth and Spitse. Both of them have extraordinary vision and are able to deliver perfectly-weighted, accurate passes almost all the time. Of course, to prevent these passes from happening, the opposing team should mark and press these two aggressively. If you give them time and space, theyll deliver those passes.
These two pictures provide an example. In the first one, we can see Canada defending with a mid-high block, but they didnt press the centre-backs. Without the pressure, Bloodworth had complete freedom to distribute the ball wherever she wants.
In the second one, Spitse was completely free and the defending player was far too late to press her and prevent the diagonal pass.
These diagonal passes were extremely vital in the Netherlands attacking play as they always looked to break quickly from wider areas.
But
