New Zealand 4-4-2 (Nayler – Bott, Stott, Erceg, Riley – Hassett, Percival, Bowen, Chance – Gregorius, White)

Netherlands 4-3-3 (Van Veenendal – Van Lunteren, Van der Gragt, Bloodworth, Van Es – Groenen, Spitse, Van de Donk – Van de Sanden, Miedema, Martens)

New Zealand set up in a 4-4-2 mid-block with zonal coverage. Their front two of Gregorius and White moved laterally in unison, blocking the centre and passes from the Netherlands centre-backs to their No.6, Spitse. In doing so they often forced the Netherlands’ build-up wide to the full-backs, who were then pressed by the nearest New Zealand winger, Hassett or Chance. In these moments the rest of the New Zealand midfield would shift across to form a line of cover behind the pressing winger.

The compactness in New Zealand’s first two lines of pressing were impressive. The midfield four and the front two essentially surrounded Spitse, meaning she was cover shadowed by the New Zealand strikers and could be quickly closed down by their central midfielders.

The Netherlands had difficulty progressing through these lines, and their build-up often took the form of slow sideways passes from one full-back to the other, via the centre-backs. On the rare occasions they worked a viable angle to pass into Spitse, she was surrounded and lacked support from her midfield teammates, Van de Donk and Groenen, who were more interested in positioning themselves between New Zealand’s midfield and defence lines. There was always a danger that she would be dispossessed with no obvious next pass for her to play and defenders nearby to close her down from multiple angles.

Van de Donk and Groenen’s positioning between the lines did mean that, if the Netherlands’ full-backs could somehow work a passing lane to them, they could be found the break the lines. They would then get on the ball and be able to attack the last line of New Zealand defence directly, while Van der Sanden, Martens and Miedema offered the option of playing through the opposition back four. However, rarely did these situations occur, as Netherlands were generally unable to find their advanced No.8s.

New Zealand had some problems defending the Netherlands wingers, who offered different types of threat. On the right, Van der Sanden made out-to-in runs behind her opposite full-back and got on the end of penetrative through balls played in the channel between New Zealand’s left centre-back and left-back. Meanwhile, on the left-hand side, Martens threatened with her dribbling skill. Naturally right footed but comfy on her left, once she received near the touchline she caused uncertainty as to whether she would cut in or go around the outside. One versus one, she was almost impossible to stop.

Ultimately, it took a late winner from substitute Roord for the Netherlands to turn their 70% of possession into a goal. As the game wore on and New Zealand dropped back to defend in a low block, the Netherlands resorted to crosses from wide, one of which led to the goal. However, while they had less of the ball, New Zealand looked the more effective attacking side overall, countering into space and shooting on sight when they regained the ball close to the final third.