FIFA Women’s World Cup Final 2023: The key tactical battles in Spain vs England – tactical preview

We’re one day away from the highly anticipated 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, where Jorge Vilda’s Spain will take on the reigning European Champions, Sarina Wiegman’s England.

The path to the big game in Stadium Australia has not been an easy one for either side, with both demonstrating a keen ability to overcome setbacks in order to earn their place in Sunday’s showcase.

On one hand, Spain have had to contend with managing star player Alexia Putellas’ minutes on her return from injury and had to mentally deal with a 4-0 thrashing in their final Group C clash versus a formidable Japanese outfit.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, England have had to tactically adapt throughout the competition, mainly due to Keira Walsh’s injury sustained versus Denmark, which ruled her out of the Lionesses’ subsequent game versus China but also due to a two-game suspension for Chelsea’s dynamic attacker Lauren James.

Both Vilda and Wiegman can be proud of themselves and their respective teams’ efforts to overcome all obstacles, and the stage is now set for a box office clash on Sunday. Our tactical analysis will provide a tactical preview of some key battles to watch out for as the two European goliaths face off in the World Cup Final.

Potential lineups

First and foremost, before providing our analysis of the strategies and tactics of the two teams, we’ll take a look at how they may line up and who we can expect to take to the field.

For Spain, we can reasonably expect they’ll line up in a 4-3-3 shape with one holding midfielder, as this has been Vilda’s general way of setting up his side throughout the tournament.

Cata Coll will likely start between the sticks for La Roja behind a back-four potentially consisting of right-back Ona Batlle, right centre-back Irene Paredes, left centre-back Laia Codina and left-back Olga Carmona — who scored the winning goal for Vilda’s side in the semi-final versus Sweden.

We anticipate Real Madrid’s Teresa Abelleira to start at holding midfield just behind the Barcelona duo of Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas, while Jennifer Hermoso could lead the lineup top with Alba Redondo (right) and Salma Paralluelo (left) potentially starting on either side of her.

Expect Mariona Caldentey and Esther González also to feature and potentially start in the attacking positions, however. Impact substitutes have been vital to Vilda’s team and their progress throughout the tournament, and England will need to be prepared for various threats on Sunday.

On the opposite side, we expect Wiegman to stick with the 3-4-1-2 shape she settled into from the China game on following Keira Walsh’s injury, as previously mentioned. Even after Walsh’s return, Wiegman has preferred this shape for the entirety of the knockout stages due to the way it allows for the ball progression workload to be spread a bit more easily and helps highlight Manchester City star Alex Greenwood’s passing ability.

Mary Earps will start in goal for Wiegman’s side behind a back three of Greenwood (left), Millie Bright (centre) and Jess Carter (right). Ahead of them, in a four-player midfield, we expect to see Walsh and Georgia Stanway line up in the centre, with Rachel Daly (left) and Lucy Bronze (right) on either side of them.

The big question mark in terms of team selection is whether Wiegman sticks with Manchester United’s Ella Toone in the ‘10’ position or goes with the returning Lauren James following the end of the latter’s suspension.

Toone has done a fine job in James’ absence, but it’d be a big call to overlook the 21-year-old Chelsea star’s quality, and we’d lean towards putting her back into the starting XI for the final.

Lastly, we will likely see Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo lead the line for the Lionesses, with the front two having developed a fruitful partnership from the switch to 3-4-1-2.

Spain in possession vs England out of possession

We’ll kick off our tactical analysis by looking at how we can expect Spain to approach this game in possession and, simultaneously, how England will attempt to combat them without the ball.

Firstly, figure 1 gives us an idea of how we can broadly expect this matchup to look, with Spain being represented by the pink dots and England by the yellow.

England’s front two will look to screen passes into Abelleira while closing down the centre-back in possession. We can expect the ball-far forward to get tight to Abelleira as the ball-near forward presses the ball carrier while trying to keep La Roja’s holding midfielder in her cover shadow as the Lionesses defend in their mid-block.