“A great weight on its shoulders”: Why Colombian giants América de Cali are on course to make history in the Liga Femenina – scout report

As with the men’s game, South America has a history of producing outstanding female footballing talent, with some of those to have emerged from the continent in the last decade including Argentina’s Atlético Madrid Femenino playmaker Estefanía Banini, departing Arsenal Women centre-back Rafaelle Souza, who currently captains Brazil, and her international teammate and Orlando Pride forward Marta, who is widely regarded as the greatest female player of all time.

However, whilst those are the two nations that most people turn to when looking for South American football powerhouses, there is another that is quickly growing in strength, with Colombia responsible for producing some very promising players and starting to attract glances from major names around the world, as shown by Real Madrid Femenino’s signing of 18-year-old forward Linda Caicedo in January from Deportivo Cali Femenino.

Domestically, the dominant sides in the Colombian women’s game are América de Cali Femenino and Santa Fe Femenino, and they go up against each other during the coming weekends in a two-legged play-off final to decide who lifts the trophy for this year. There is added spice to the fixture, as both are exactly level when it comes to the number of Liga Femenina titles that they hold (two) and so it quite literally is a date with destiny as one seals a third title and becomes the divisions’ most successful team.

The edge may well be with América, who are based in the southwestern city of Cali, given that they ended the regular campaign five points clear of their rivals at the summit of the table, and this tactical analysis will take a closer look at the specifics of their attacking and defensive play to see why clever tactics have helped them to reach this point. The scout report will also identify the key players who have contributed to their successful campaign so far, both those coming to the end of their careers and those who will be hoping to emulate Caicedo and seal a move to a major name in the future.

Attack

When looking closely at América de Cali Femenino’s offensive play, the first thing to notice is that head coach Carlos Hernández, who has been in charge since December 2022, has looked to bring together the basic elements of different styles of play to forge his own brand of football, and that is one reason that they have been an intriguing team to watch during his tenure.

The first clear sign of this fusion is when looking at their transitions, because, when moving the ball up the field, América look to play directly whilst keeping the ball on the ground, meaning that their attacks are sped up but the risk of possession being conceded once the ball is in transit is decreased.

The way that Hernández has implemented this is by setting up with a 3-5-2 system (which they have used on 62% of occasions this year) and depending on wing-backs to help move the ball up the field, as that structure sees the outside defenders naturally advance forwards and so the distance between the defensive and attacking lines is lessened. That leads to situations like this occurring where the centre-backs can make simple forward passes and the wing-backs can then play directly into the path of the attackers, as is happening here with Fabiana Yantén feeding the ball through for Colombia forward Catalina Usme to get on the end of.