The players are fitter, tactically better and have improved enormously when it comes to set pieces – data from the World Cup shows the leap in quality in women’s football. Some trends at a glance:
Defense, protection, pressing
It’s not always attractive, but it guarantees more success: effective defensive work on the soccer field. The women have developed enormously in defending their goal. At this World Cup, the defenses were much more compact than they were four years ago.
Technically inferior teams in particular worked with a dense four-man defense during the tournament, which was often supported by a defensive five-man midfield chain. Result: Fewer goals were scored. In 51 of the 56 games up to and including the round of 16 at least one team was able to keep the clean sheet. 46 percent of all teams managed to keep a clean sheet at least once in the tournament. In 2019, only 33 percent of all participants succeeded.
Run, run, run – the increased fitness
Anyone who concedes an above-average number of goals in the last quarter of an hour of a game should do something about the fitness of their players – this realization seems to have reached the top teams in women’s football. At least that’s what the relevant data shows. Only 21 percent of goals came in the last 15 minutes of games. Four years ago it was 28 percent.
There is a lot going on overall. Only in four games of the total of 56 up to and including the round of 16 was the mileage of a team under 100 kilometers. These are very impressive values that don’t have to hide behind the performances of men’s teams.
Overall, only 2.6 goals were scored per game on average. Four years ago it was 2.9 goals. The analysts rate this as increased quality – but that seems to be a matter of taste. In any case, the teams have moved closer together in terms of performance. There were significantly more close games than in 2019.
In width – like Spain and England
Well-structured attacking ensembles deliberately spread their attacking game far apart. According to data analysis, England and Spain have an average attack width of around 43 meters – this is a maximum.
The decisive factor is that you have to be able to get behind the opposing defence. Either with runs behind the chain, as Japan did great at the beginning of the tournament. Or you play deep passes from the outside of the half-field, through the interfaces of the defence. Overall, the outside game was successful: 58 percent of the goals came from crosses, four years ago it was only 51 percent.
Wing game – Spain can do it
The gate in view – into the depth of the room
Breaking through the defensive lines – that’s what you have to do if you want to score goals. Passes in depth, through the interfaces of the defense are the measure of all things. This tactical device has developed in women’s football: 47 percent of passes found a recipient behind a chain of opponents. In 2019, only 43 percent succeeded.
Australia achieved the top value in the group game against Canada, when they played a whopping 12 times behind the opposing defensive line. 17 percent of Australian line-breaking passes covered the last chain – that’s enormous. The “Matildas” unsurprisingly won the game 4-0.
Standards – not only Sweden does it
Every 23rd corner brought a goal at this World Cup. In 2019, this was only possible on average for every 29th corner kick. “Corners are our weapon,” said the Swedes, who are particularly successful in this discipline.
But the other teams have also learned to love this way of approaching the goal. They are now beating the standards much more dangerously than they were four years ago. 43 percent of all corner kicks landed in the six-yard box at this tournament. In 2019 it was only 36 percent.
Sweden and the standards – “one weapon”
Goalkeepers always safer
What makes good goalkeeping? Safe appearance in any case. That has a lot to do with charisma and personality – difficult to measure. Instead, the technical basics were analyzed. The result: The goalkeeping game has improved significantly at the World Cup.
The goalkeepers have been working on their positioning. In the current tournament, 87 percent of them were in the right place to have a chance of saving a shot on goal. Four years ago, they only managed to do this 71 percent of the time. They now parried 78 percent of shots instead of 74 percent at the 2019 World Cup. They also intercepted more crosses: 82 percent instead of 78 percent. They managed more precise throws: 97 percent of them landed on a teammate. Four years ago, this happened in only 93 percent of airdrops.
This article was created based on the data collected by the football consulting company CreateFootball, which analyzed the World Cup games on behalf of “Sportschau”.