The Women’s Cup 2022 : How Milan passed Tokyo Verdy Beleza’s test with a convincing attacking performance – tactical analysis

Milan Women kicked off their Women’s Cup campaign by winning against Tokyo Verdy Beleza in the first match of the tournament which is actually taking place in Louisville in the United States. Milan’s participation in this international competition will be very beneficial in terms of experience and exposure to the world as well as in terms of assessing the players’ performances on an international level and against various teams from distinct leagues including Tottenham Women, Racing Louisville and OL Reign.

Milan’s win against Tokyo Verdy Beleza means that they have qualified for the semi-finals and they will need to beat the hosts Racing Louisville in order to qualify for the final. This could be a tricky match for the Rossonere since they will be facing a solid team with players being in the middle of their NWSL season while Milan are still in the pre-season. Therefore, the rhythm, the physical readiness and the cohesion between players will most likely serve Racing Louisville and could make it a bit complicated for Milan to win. Nevertheless, Milan’s performance in their first match was reassuring as they were able to score three goals and what was more significant is that the integration of the new players is going according to plan. What proves that is the fact that Asllani was able to score twice with ease as she showed great confidence and chemistry with her attacking teammates.

In this tactical analysis article, we will analyse Milan’s performance both from an attacking and a defensive perspective in order to explore how the head coach Maurizio Ganz is planning to start the season. It will also be an analysis to see what tactics he may rely on with his current new squad in the upcoming games.

Lineups

Before starting with the analysis, we need to explore how both teams were lined up for this match. Milan Women kept using their usual 3-4-3 formation with Laura Giuliani, Laura Fusetti, Małgorzata Mesjasz and Alia Guagni in defence, Angelica Soffia, Marta Mascarelo, Kamila Dubcová and Linda Tucceri Cimini in midfield while Lindsey Thomas, Valentina Bergamaschi and Martina Piemonte formed the attacking trio, knowing that Piemonte was the striker before getting subbed by Kosovare Asllani during the second-half and that Thomas and Bergamaschi were the wingers.

Tokyo Verdy Beleza started the game with Momoko Tanaka as a goalkeeper, Risa Shimizu, Tomoko Muramatsu, Azusa Iwashimizu and Asato Miyagawa in defence, Mayo Doko, Yu Nakasato and Momoka Kinoshita in midfield, while both Roka and Nanami Kitamura played on the wings and Riko Ueki was the team’s striker.

Milan’s attacking tactics

Milan started the game with some high pressing on Tokyo Verdy Beleza’s defence in order to oblige them to give the ball away or commit passing mistakes more often. And that’s exactly what happened on several occasions and Milan were able to either intercept passes or win throw-ins due to inaccurate Tokyo Verdy Beleza passes.

Milan’s usage of this high pressing should be monitored very well in order to know when to use it and when to avoid it, knowing that such advancement of players can lead to dangerous counter-attacks when playing against tougher teams with great build-up abilities and quick attacking players.

Milan tried some different attacking patterns in this match and relied mainly on penetrations inside the box from midfielders and on quick passing exchanges with players who move without the ball such as Dubcová. Milans point of reference was Piemonte, who is continuing to be the team’s leader in attack before getting subbed by Asllani.

Moreover, the roles of Bergamaschi and Thomas are very important and the chemistry between both players can serve the team a lot during this season as both players are quick, have good vision and can be extremely dangerous inside the box. In this example, Bergamaschi moved towards the middle and acted like a striker before receiving the ball and giving a key through pass in the direction of Thomas’ run. The latter was able to get the ball despite being surrounded by opponents but her shot went off target.

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