Germany 4-4-2 (Schult – Hendrich, Hegering, Doorsun, Schweers – Gwinn, Dabritz, Goessling, Oberdorf – Huth, Popp)

Spain 4-2-3-1 (Panos – Marta, Paredes, Leon, Corredera – Meseguer, Virginia – Caldentey, Hermoso, Putellas – N Garcia)

Germany went into this game without star player Dzsenifer Maroszan due to injury, but her absence may have actually helped them to their 1-0 victory. Without their main playmaker, they were better able to implement a counter-attacking game plan, with Huth taking Maroszan’s place alongside Popp up front.

Martina Voss-Tecklenburg lined her side up in a 4-4-2 mid-block with a positional coverage scheme. What this meant was, rather than pressing high and cutting off Spain’s passing options or going man-on-man in certain situations, they retained their shape and focused on staying compact. The presence of the front two meant Spain’s centre-backs couldn’t simply drive forward with the ball at feet as they did against South Africa, while Popp and Huth also pressed backwards when the ball went into midfield. This, along with the wingers – Gwinn and Oberdorf – often coming in, put serious pressure on Spain’s double pivot of Virginia and Meseguer whenever either one of them received the ball in central areas.

Germany’s more passive defensive approach allowed Spain’s centre-backs comfortable possession, but they didn’t always know what to do with it. Unable to drive forward and provoke as they would normally do, Paredes and Diaz passed sideways between themselves for long periods, going out to the full-backs and rarely penetrating. Their main rotations came down the right-hand side, where sometimes Meseguer would drop into the right-back slot, allowing Marta to push down the right wing and Caldentey to come inside. By contrast, on the left Putellas stayed high and close to her wing and there were fewer interchanges or rotations between winger, full-back and central midfielder on that side.

Spain were more successful when being more direct in their possession, as opposed to passing short and sideways along the back four. Hermoso could act as a fairly effective target for long balls, while Nahikari Garcia looked to get onto flick-ons or balls over the top of the German centre-backs, using her speed to make runs beyond and getting into some 1v1 situations with goalkeeper Schult.

When they lost the ball Spain tried to counter-press, but they struggled to impact Germany’s quick transitions. The Germans were always looking to counter quickly and directly using the pace of Huth, who looked to attack the space in the channels on the break. This intensified in the second half, when Germany brought on striker Buhl for right-back Hendrich. Buhl went up front, Huth went to the right wing, and Gwinn went to right-back, giving them an extra injection of pace up front. This approach may not have been viable with the slow, positionally fluid Maroszan in the team.

Germany’s focus on speed and directness continued in their organised possession, where their 4-4-2 almost became a 4-2-4. Spain, who defended in a 4-2-3-1 shape with Hermoso behind Garcia, looked to press high, but Germany were always looking to attack the space behind their opposition’s back line with their front four. Their full-backs would also overlap, which allowed their wingers to come inside and try to attack the channels between defenders in Spain’s back four.

The effectiveness of Germany’s strategy was seen in the fact Spain didn’t register a second-half shot until stoppage time, despite being 0-1 down. Both sides have struggled in games where they dominate possession at this tournament, but Voss-Tecklenburg showed here that she is able and willing to adapt to a defend and counter game when the opportunity arises.

Elsewhere, there was some interesting stuff happening at attacking free kicks. The new rule, which does not allow attacking players to join the defensive wall, is already leading to innovations. Germany had one player run laterally in front of Spain’s defensive wall, presumably in an attempt to distract them and/or block their vision of the upcoming kick. Spain responded by forming their own wall in front of the defensive wall from one of their own free kicks, again to disrupt the opposition defenders’ view of the kick.