Washington Spirit – OL Reign Opposition Analysis – scout report

This tactical analysis is part of a project series I will be doing with Abdullah Abdullah. The purpose of the project will be primarily conducting an opposition analysis for women’s teams against sides they have struggled against in their respective league campaigns. It will include a team analysis, two scout reports, and a data analysis.

This analysis will focus on the Washington Spirit from the perspective of OL Reign. Olympique Lyonnais newly acquired side found life difficult against the Spirit last season, drawing all three of their matches even as they dominated for much of each of them. We will start by breaking down Washington’s tactics in and out of possession, before going into what OL Reign did well and poorly against them. The final section will come up with solutions for the issues OL Reign faced against Washington.

Defending structure

Washington Spirit are built on the foundations of the defensive side of their game. They aim to defend deep with numbers and look to move forward on the counter when opportunities present themselves. During the 2019 campaign, Washington used the 4-3-1-2 formation in 38% of their matches and a 4-2-3-1 24% of the time. In both of these systems, the defending focus in the centre of the pitch.

Using these systems, the Spirit aim to be very compact and force opponents to move out to wide areas looking for space to attack. The major use of the 4-3-1-2 formation specifically highlights this focus with no wide attacker being utilised. Using these systems involving three central midfielders, Washington is able to block off these central channels for opponents. This creates a barrier keeping possession away from the top of the penalty area. As these channels are blocked off, the central players are forced to move wide or deep looking to get an opportunity to get on the ball, which in turn can isolate the striker or strikers in this situation. Most of the time, opponents are forced into trying to move their attack wide right or wide left.

In the image above you can see the Spirit’s midfield structure blocking off any passing lanes into Reign’s central attackers. The stances of these players are key in forcing the player in possession to move exactly how they want him to.