Australia 4-3-3 (Williams – Carpenter, Kennedy, Catley, Kellond-Knight – Yallop, Egmond-Knight, Logarzo – Gielnik, Kerr, Foord)

Brazil 4-5-1 (Barbara – Leticia, Kathellen, Monica, Tamires – Alves, Thaisa, Formiga, Marta, Debinha – Cristiane)

Australia came from behind to beat Brazil 3-2 in an exciting turnaround, though not before their issues in possession were once again highlighted. Brazil defended deep in a 4-5-1 shape that saw Marta push up to help Cristiane in pressing Australia before dropping back into the midfield line. This was a conservative performance from the Brazilians, who wanted to defend in their own half in numbers. If Australia went wide, the near Brazilian winger was quick to close down whilst also being conscious of blocking the pass inside.

However, Brazil were helped by poor Australian attacking. After struggling to find the spaces between Italy’s lines in their opening game, Australia had similar issues here. Brazil’s first-half defensive shape was quite inconsistent, with gaps opening up when Marta or Thaisa stepped up. Yet, while Australia had their 8s and wingers looking to take up positions in these spaces, they were rarely found. This was due to poor decision-making and a slow tempo in build-up.

The centre-backs, Kennedy and Catley, weren’t decisive enough to play balls over the top or through the lines of Brazilian defence to find Yallop, Logarzo, Foord and Gielnik. They were also far too slow in their passing, taking too long to decide upon their next move. By the time they released the ball, the receiver could be quickly closed down as Brazil had time to re-position themselves and apply pressure. A number of times opportunities were missed on the right-hand side, as Kennedy failed to make use of space down the flank to play right-back Carpenter down the wing, or failed to pick out Yallop, who had found separation in the inside channel, via a pass out to Carpenter to then come back in.

On one occasion, Australia’s centre-backs – who were often supported by Van Egmond, who played in front of them or to the side – found a pass through to Gielnik, who dropped in the right inside channel and took her marker, Brazil left-back Tamires, with her. She then played a first-time pass for Carpenter, who accelerated into the vacated space down the flank with the ball. More of these simple routines could have worked, but the passing out wasn’t progressive or quick enough.

Brazil essentially tried to absorb Australia’s attacking before building counters of their own. Either they attacked quickly with balls out wide for Alves and Debinha to latch onto and dribble at defenders on the break, or they took it slower and used the ball retention skills of Marta to hold possession under pressure, carry it forward and allow time for others to get forward and support the attack. The movement of Debinha on the blind side of her opposite full-back was again a threat, though was not utilised as often as it was against Jamaica.

When defending, Australia looked to press high in a 4-1-4-1 shape that saw their midfield four keep a close eye on their opposite players – so the wingers were quick to press the Brazil full-backs, and the central midfielders were quick to press their Brazilian counterparts. This took Brazil’s time away in build-up and made it hard for them to play out from the back. Their possession game is fairly weak and, in matches where the opponent allows them the ball and looks to press intelligently on certain triggers, Vadao’s team could be in trouble. So watch out for that last group clash with Italy, basically.

While Australia found it difficult to attack cohesively, they exploited a weakness in the Brazilian defence – long balls and crosses towards their centre-backs. Australia’s second and third goals came from these situations, where Brazil were simply unable to handle direct play and clear their lines. A 2-0 lead softly became a 2-3 scoreline, and the Brazilians had no idea how to adapt to the changed game state. Australia defender deeper with their lead and Brazil missed the composure and creativity of Marta, who had been subbed off at half-time.