What a great FIFA Women‘s World Cup it was this year in France. We saw thrilling matches, great performances by the players and in the end, the great favourites, the USA, defending the title and winning the Womens World Cup for the fourth time.
Everyone was talking about the two stars of the team Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan. Especially the winger Rapinoe had a great tournament with her six goals in five appearances. However, the defensive midfielder Julie Ertz had some great impact which isnt obvious at first glance. The 27-years-old played most of the time as the only defensive midfielder and occasionally as a centre-back.
This tactical analysis will examine Ertzs defensive as well as offensive abilities and her importance to Jill Ellis’ team.
Their road to the title
The United State were in group F together with Chile, Thailand and Sweden. It was clear that the U.S. would go through to the round of the last 16 as the winner of this group. Furthermore, everyone expected Sweden to be in second place after the third matchday. This was mostly expected because it was the first time the Chilean national team even qualified for a FIFA womens world cup and only the second time since 2015 for Thailand.
Ellis’ team faced Thailand on the first matchday in Reims and everyone expected them to win this game easily. And alas, the USWNT won 13-0 in the most one-sided match in Women’s World Cup history. Just five days later they bet the Chilean national team 3-0 in France’s capital city and so they were already qualified for the round of the last 16. Since Sweden also won their first two matches in group F, the clash between Ellis’ team and the Scandinavians decided who would be the winner of their group.
However, the USA were able to take away a 2-0 victory and so they won their group. In the round of the last 16, they faced Spain. The USWNT were once more the clear favourite to go through to the quarter-finals. But the Spanish national team played well and issued a challenge to the United States who needed two penalties to secure a 2-1 win.
After that, they faced France, the hosts of this years Women’s World Cup, in the quarter-finals. Some people said that the winner of this match will go on and win this World Cup since these two teams were the greatest favourites. Ellis’ team was once more able to win 2-1 and went through to the semi-finals due to two goals by Rapinoe.
They faced the English national team of coach Phil Neville in the semi-finals. Morgan and Christen Press both scored to win 2-1 for the third time in a row. Considering this, it was official that the United States would face the Netherlands in the final of this year’s Women’s World Cup in Lyon.
Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle scored the goals for the U.S. in the final and the Netherlands weren’t able to retaliate and so the game ended 2-0 and Ellis’ team was crowned Women’s World Cup champion for the fourth time in the history of this tournament.
Ertz’s career so far
Ertz was born as Julie Johnston in 1992 in Mesa, Arizona. She married Zach Ertz in 2017 and since then her surname is Ertz.
She was introduced to soccer through her local American Youth Soccer Organisation (AYSO) region and joined the Sereno Soccer Club in Phoenix in 2000. After four years she moved to the Sereno Soccer Club. Ertz played with the team from 2004 to 2010 on the U13 through U19 teams.
Ertz attended Santa Clara University, where she majored in communications and played for the Santa Clara Broncos womens soccer team. Overall, Ertz has made 79 appearances and scored 31 goals with the Broncos between 2010 and 2013.
In January 2014, she was selected third overall in the first round of the 2014 NWSL College Draft by the Chicago Red Stars. Since then she played 72 games for the Red Stars and scored six goals.
Furthermore, Ertz made her first appearance for the national team in February 2013 against Scotland. Since then she made 88 appearances for the USWNT and scored 19 goals. In addition, this year’s title was for her the second because she was also part of the squad which won the Women’s World Cup in 2015 in Canada.
Positioning
Ellis set up her team in a 4-3-3 formation throughout the tournament in France. Ertz played in six out of the seven games and only didnt play against Sweden. In the remaining games, she always played as the central and most defensive one of the three midfielders except the first game against Thailand in which she played as a centre-back.
Ertz was very important for the tactics of the United States. When they tried to build up from the back as later explained in this analysis, she was the deepest midfielder and supported the two centre-backs, usually Becky Sauerbrunn and Abby Dahlkemper. She was always positioned very centrally to provide a passing option and then either laid the ball off or looked for a forward pass.
However, the 27-years-old defensive midfield
