Brazil 4-4-2 (Barbara – Leticia, Kathellen, Monica, Tamires – Alves, Formiga, Thaisa, Debinha – Cristiane, Beatriz)

Jamaica 4-2-3-1 (Schneider – Bond-Flasza, Plummer, A Swaby, Blackwood – Sweatman, C Swaby – Matthews, Solaun, Carter – Shaw)

Brazil controlled and won their opening game against Jamaica without ever really impressing. They had most of the ball and, thanks to the quality of their front four – particularly hat-trick hero Cristiane – were able to turn possession into goals and points.

The most interesting aspect of their attacking play was the dynamic between their wingers, Alves and Debinha. Both looked to cut inside for different reasons, and at times linked up well. Natural lefty Alves started on the right, but came in onto her favoured foot to play through balls and passes to the forwards. Debinha, a righty on the left flank, was always searching for gaps in Jamaica’s defensive line that she should exploit through runs in behind. The pair occasionally synced up, with Alves cutting in and playing balls over the top for Debinha to run onto.

Debinha’s movement was exceptional, and she regularly threatened with her runs beyond or between the Jamaica defenders. Brazil often played quite directly to try and exploit her movement, with balls over the top aiming for her. Besides that, there was no real penetration from the Brazilians.

They failed to break the lines, with most of their attacking progress coming from the balls over the top to Debinha. Otherwise, they went wide to the full-backs, who then passed inside to the feet of a striker. There was lots of hopeful crossing and direct play, and very few synchronised attacking moves. This wasn’t helped by the fact their full-backs – particularly Tamires on the left – were extremely conservative in their positioning, staying close to the centre-backs and rarely overlapping down their flanks or pushing up to enable the wingers to come in between the lines.

Jamaica defended stoutly in a 4-2-3-1 shape. Their central midfielders occasionally latched onto their opposite men and man-marked, while Solaun flitted between supporting Shaw in pressing or covering behind the central midfielders. When they did get the ball they looked to get it wide to Matthews and Carter, who both looked good 1v1 with pace and skill, or played it forwards into a channel for Shaw to run onto and shoot.

While they lost, Jamaica almost looked more coherent than the victors. Brazil look to be built around the individual talent of their forwards, and more energetic or organised defensive sides may have joy pressing their build-up.