Report and Statistics - FIFA.com

10
Overall Analysis
Technical and Tactical Analysis
Performance – potential top-class
international players
From the very start of this tournament it
was clear that this would be another strong
positive step in the development of women’s
football.
After seeing the performance of the teams,
we can conclude that there are many skilful
individual players who have the potential to
be major international top-class players at the
senior level. The All-Star Team features just
some of them.
Compared to the 2004 event, there were
more skilful individual players on each team
in 2006, and in general, the teams were more
balanced than before.
The standard of fi tness is also improving but
there is still room for more improvement for
some teams if they want to match the top
teams, who boast more players with pace.
The best teams also have the ability to play at
pace for the whole game and for the entire
tournament.
Although the performances of the teams
and players are not yet totally consistent,
there were more inconsistent performances
in the group stages than in the fi nal matches.
We have to take into consideration the fact
that these players are young and that there
were signifi cant differences in terms of the
players’ ages.
But nevertheless, it was obvious that the
teams and players who had longer preparation
time and played together as a team gave
more solid performances. The four teams in
the semi-fi nals (Brazil, Korea DPR, China PR
and USA) were good examples of this.
To perform well in big games, the team, the
players themselves, the coaches and all other
team offi cials must be prepared.
Flexibility in using own strengths
Overall, teams in this competition are more
balanced now.
When it came to fl exibility in using their own
strengths and qualities to win the game and
being able to change the team organisation to
adapt to the strengths or weaknesses of their
opponents, lack of experience and understanding
of the game in some teams became evident.
Therefore, preparation, the importance
of playing in big games and competing against
different styles of football is crucial to developing
future top-class international players.
It also helps to encourage more players to
take responsibility and show leadership on
the pitch and, of course, off it. This will be a
big challenge for many coaches, players and
teams in the future.
In this tournament, many teams played a different
style of football than in 2004. For example,
Congo DR, Mexico, Argentina, Russia,
Nigeria and Brazil all played with one player
deep behind their last defensive line, mixing
individual marking and zonal defence. That
of course refl ected on their defensive play,
but it also had an impact on offensive moves.
Opponents with creative players had the opportunity
to break down defences. Defensive
play also had an impact on the teams’
offensive patterns in terms of positions during
transition to attacking play.
There were also differences in the teams’ basic
formations. Korea DPR, China PR, France,
Nigeria, Argentina, Mexico, Congo DR and
Switzerland all used a basic formation of 4-4-2,
although France changed in one game to
a 3-4-3. USA, Germany and Russia used
4-2-3-1. Two teams played with 3-5-2 as
the basic formation: Brazil and Australia, although
the latter switched to 4-4-2 against
Brazil. Finland and New Zealand both played a
4-5-1 formation and Canada used 4-3-3.
The four teams in the semi-fi nals all had very
well-organised and good defensive play.
These four teams also had to develop their
offensive play to break through each other’s
strong defence. In the end, the team with the
ability to use positional play at pace, the team
with creative players breaking down a strong
defence and the team that best controlled the
speed of play won this tournament. In other
words, Korea DPR stuck to their chosen strategy
throughout the whole tournament.
The teams that did not reach the latter stages
need to raise their level of defensive and offensive
play. They need more positional play
as a team and they should concentrate on de-
veloping individual qualities (one v. one, two
v. one and one v. two in defending), but also
in attacking play to break down the strong
defence of the best teams.
The higher the standard at football, the more
tactical adaptability and decision-making becomes
important. It is vitally important that
young players are taught to make decisions
and adapt to tactics by using their technical
skills. This combination is needed at all levels.
Experiencing such situations is an investment
in the future.
Creativity and individual skills
decide matches
In this tournament, the area between midfi
eld and attack was dominated by creative
and fl exible players such as Kim Kyong Hwa
(Korea DPR, 20), Celia Okoyino Da Mbabi
(Germany, 10) and of course Ma Xiaoxu (China
PR, 10), the winner of the adidas Golden
Shoe award (top goalscorer) and the adidas
Golden Ball (best player). These players have
playmaking abilities and they create attacks
by themselves and for the team. They are mobile
and very dynamic in their play and can
decide a game almost single-handedly.
Germany, Korea DPR and China PR all had
players in midfi eld to balance the creative
players and to release them from defensive
responsibilities. Lena Goessling (Germany,
8), Kim Chun Hui (Korea DPR, 6) and Yue
Min (China PR, 15) were clever players who
provided such balance in midfi eld.
The most successful teams included players
who possessed various qualities. This gave
these teams fl exibility in terms of technique
and tactics, allowing them to adapt to the
opponents’ weaknesses and strengths and to
use their own strengths to win games.
Winning by using positional play
and technical skills
World champions Korea DPR showed how
to dictate the pace of the game. They used
positional play and individual skills at a high
level of intensity.
We knew beforehand that the team that won
the tournament would be the team that converted
most of its chances. It is not only what
you do inside the penalty area that counts,
it is also the ability to shoot from long range
and create goalscoring opportunities from
open play and wing play. World champions
Korea DPR scored fi fteen goals and had ten
different goalscorers.
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