On Monday night the United States takes on Colombia in Edmonton for a place in the quarterfinals. Coming in as heavy favorites (having beaten Colombia 3-0 at the 2012 Olympics and 2011 World Cup) the Americans have come under fire for producing less than convincing results in the group stages.
Jill Ellis has aligned in a 4-4-2 in all three matches, and the system has taken time to take shape. This has been heightened by Ellis continually shuffling her front four attackers. While possessing four potent forwards, it seems as if the rotation has created a lack of fluidity and understanding going forward. The key piece in this puzzle is Abby Wamabch. While she is past her best, she still provides an important presence and shapes the teams attacking identity. The US is not built to play a possession game where they control tempo and play the ball through the center to unlock a defense. They are a tactically basic side that relies on individual skill and winning one vs one match-ups rather than intricate attacking movements. The influence of Wambach is seen in the video below; she is still lethal from the set piece and a favorite to win any aerial duel along with providing a link from front to back.
Her aerial presence was apparent twelve minutes into the tournament winning a long ball leading to a Megan Rapinoe long range goal. This side of her game is well known but her linkup play has been understated. While Carli Lloyd and Lauren Holiday have struggled creating play, Wambach opened up routes for them to get forward and play passes into the wide players in the Nigeria match. Also, Alex Morgan and Wambach had a good understanding of each others movements. The issue is her declining athleticism. While playing with her back to goal and factoring into the build up phase of play has helped the US create attacks; her lack of mobility means she has been unable to get back into the box and finish off an attack. Furthermore, Morgan played two great square passes that were just in front of Wambach; runs she probably could have finished off in her prime.
As a counter to slow buildups or long balls, the US has found success in pressing higher up the pitch and trying to win the ball back close to the opposition goal. This strategy has been employed at opportune moments (goal kicks, throw ins and directly after the ball has been turned over) to great effect. The issue has been a failure to capitalize on the break once regaining possession.
While Rapinoe had a great solo transition goal against Australia, the team has struggled understanding each others runs and releasing the ball at the correct time to open up the recovering defense. Often times the player on the ball has taken too many touches, slowing down the attack while also wasting the runs made by fellow attackers. Overall, they have been indecisive, which is summed up well in the quote below from Christie Rampone.
“I think we need to go after teams a little bit more, and we need to have a better presence in our attacking third. I think have the defensive organization down; it’s now just kind of releasing, and being a little more free and confident on the offensive side.” (quote from Philly.com)
Only surrendering one goal in three matches, the US has been dominant in defense since the opening half of the tournament. Australia opened the match looking to outnumber the US in the center and play quick balls in behind the rightback Ali Krieger. While the strategy set up good chances and forced Hope Solo into a couple of fantastic saves, Krieger adjusted at halftime and has settled into playing a solid role.
Since, the US has looked vulnerable to the counter on a few occasions but have been saved by poor opposition passing or timely tackles by center back standouts Julie Johnston and Becky Sauerbrunn. The recovery defending has been outstanding but more importantly the initial defending has prevented several counters from ever starting. Johnston and Sauerbrunn have elected to press tightly to the forwards and cut off any passes into their feet. This has worked wonders (seen below) except on one occasion where Johnston misplayed the ball but Sauerbrunn was able to recover before Australia had a shot on goal.
The clip is a symphony of aggressive and brave challenges. While the center backs have received much of the praise, the willingness of the rest of the cavalry to sprint back and help has prevented secondary attacks. Overall, the US has been solid, reliable and most importantly getting results. Maybe after the tournament a style change will be required but for now the reliance on set piece superiority, aggressive defending and timely moments of individual skill will be our best route at winning the World Cup.
