Algarve Cup 2022: Italy Women vs Norway Women
The Italian women faced the Norway national team in the second match of the Algarve Cup group stage and the match ended in a 2-1 victory for the Azzurre. If this result is important for Italy, it is not too worrying for Norway given the friendly aspect of the competition. This is an annual event organized by the Portuguese Football Federation. Italy have already won three points against Denmark in their first match and have therefore booked a place in the final against Sweden while Norway will play a match for the 3rd place against Portugal.
In this tactical analysis article, we’ll look at the positives and negatives of both teams’ performance while taking an in-depth look at their offensive and defensive tactics, as a sort of assessment ahead of the upcoming Euro 2022.
Alignments
Milena Bertolini, the head coach of Italy, preferred to start the game in the 4-3-3 formation with Francesca Durante as goalkeeper, Martina Lenzini, Benedetta Orsi, Elena Linari and Lisa Boattin in defense, Manuela Giugliano, Aurora Galli and Arianna Caruso. in midfield with Juventus’ Cristiana Girelli playing as a striker and Barbara Bonansea and Valentina Giacinti on the wings.
On the other side, Norway head coach Martin Sjögren started the game using the 3-4-3 formation with Manchester United’s Tuva Hansen, Guro Bergsvand and Maria Thorisdóttir as centre-backs, Amalie Eikeland and Synne Hansen as wingers, Vilde Bøe Risa and Ingrid Syrstad Engen as central midfielders, while Chelsea’s Guro Reiten and Arsenal’s Frida Maanum support striker Celin Bizet Ildhusøy.
How could Italy win?
Despite resting some important starting players such as Laura Giuliani and Sara Gama, Italy still managed to win while inserting talented but less experienced players such as Durante, Orsi and Lenzini. On the other hand, Norway have also been deprived of one of their most fundamental players, Caroline Graham Hansen, the Barcelona winger who often makes the difference in similar matches. Both teams started the match with a slow pace initially in order to find out each other’s plans. Norway would often change formation when out of possession, resulting in a 5-4-1 formation with two strong defense lines consisting of 9 players, leaving only Ildhusøy to press high. This slowed down Italy’s attacks and their ability to quickly qualify for the final third and made the mission a bit complicated for them.
Nevertheless, it was clear that Norway were not used to playing under this system and seemed shaky as they lacked organization on numerous occasions, due to this system. Italy were aware of this and tried to exploit this lack of organization by attacking from the wings and trying to confuse and cause the Norwegian defenders to make mistakes inside the box.
Italy’s first goal therefore came early thanks to a cross to Giacinti who was smart enough to prevent his marker from intercepting the ball by using his back to block his movement, while at the same time attempting a powerful volley and details who went directly to the net, as you can see below.
Norway’s lack of defensive organization continued into the first half and Italy were able to add a second goal following a clear scoring error from the Norwegian defensive line. As seen in the following image, Girelli was left alone between the lines and no defender went to tag her as she asked for the ball. After receiving a pass from the right winger, she made a back heel pass from the back of the defensive line towards Caruso who was acting like an attacker. Then the latter found herself alone in front of goal as the defenders stopped and hoped the referee would call for an offside position. However, it was a regular action that Caruso successfully finished with a goal.
It was enough for Italy to win as they successfully defended for the remainder of the game despite conceding a goal. Victories like this would give players extra confidence in their ability to compete and win against Europe’s top teams at the moment, especially ahead of some highly competitive Euro 2022 fixtures.
Norway’s reaction
Norway were unable to make any concrete attacking moves in the first half and only reached Italy’s penalty area a few times without creating any real danger. Still, they exploited the only real dangerous chance they had in the last minute of the first half following a well-played counterattack. Norway managed to score their only goal of the game in the 47thand minute of the first half in an action initiated by Reiten who waited for Ildhusøy and gave him an accurate through ball despite being disturbed by two Italian players. This pass allowed Ildhusøy to escape the two Italian defenders who were close to her and run towards the goal before finishing the action successfully.
Norway created the opportunity to get back into the game and ease the mission for the second half. However, they weren’t well-focused in the final third of the second half as they weren’t able to create any tangible chances. Their actions were usually marked by rushing on the pass or the final shot. In the following example, Reiten received the ball in a good position and preferred to shoot from distance rather than wait for Ildhusøy’s move on the right wing. It is true that his shot was dangerous as Durante saved him with difficulty, nevertheless waiting for Ildhusøy would have been better as it would have created a more appropriate and close scoring opportunity too.
Moreover, Norway’s key passes lacked precision in the final third and the following example shows perhaps the most dangerous opportunity of the game for Norway. Maanum’s next pass was crucial because if executed with precision it would have given the Norwegian striker a perfect chance to score. Maanum’s pass was aimed at the feet of the defender instead of giving a through ball to Ildhusøy so that she gained advantage over her marker and was right in front of the goal with the defender behind her. The white arrow indicates the precise direction needed for the pass while the red shows Maanum’s actual pass.
Conclusion
This game was a real test for both teams as it explains the development of both teams and will be instructive for both coaching teams. Such games give coaches the opportunity to identify exactly what needs improvement and what is already excellent while allowing them to fix these things without being under pressure since these are friendly and unofficial games.
Italy will have to work on improving their defensive organization on counter-attacks while working more on attacking movements as well as the chemistry between forwards and midfielders.
On the other side, Norway will have to deal with their final passing/shooting decisions and accuracy, as well as improving attacking movements off the ball. More importantly, the technical staff will either have to work more on organizing the tasks and defensive movements of their current formation, or modify their formation in order to adapt to the characteristics of the players and make them more crucial in terms of decision making. defensive, movements and marking.