England 4-3-3 (Telford – Bronze, Houghton, McManus, Greenwood – Scott, Moore, Kirby – Parris, Taylor, Mead)

Argentina 4-5-1 (Correa – Sachs, Barroso, Cometti, Stabile – Bonsegundo, Bravo, Benitez, Mayorga, Banini – Jaimes)

England v Argentina was essentially attack v defence, as Argentina sat in a low 4-5-1 block and looked to defend predominantly in their own defensive third. They used flexible man-marking in midfield, with the central midfielders looking to track Scott, Moore and Kirby’s movement and pressure them from behind whenever they received with their backs to goal.

Argentina allowed England’s centre-backs comfortable possession and focused on closing down their passing options man-to-man. Behind them, their back four were extremely compact, defending their penalty box well, while goalkeeper Correa put in an outstanding individual performance, making several big saves including one from a penalty. By defending so deep, Argentina made the area they needed to cover smaller and reduced the space available to England’s attackers.

Every now and then, Banini – their left winger – would leave the midfield line and press Houghton from out to in when the England centre-back received while not facing goal, but generally Banini kept her position and focused on tracking or closing down England right-back Bronze.

England had different dynamics on each wing. Mead on the left preferred to keep a wide position and look to get in behind Argentina’s back line after quick switches of play, while Parris on the right took up a more central position. By moving inside, Parris looked to offer another penetrative passing option to her centre-backs. She could also draw out Argentina’s left-back and create space behind for an overlapping Bronze to exploit.

There was a huge onus placed on England’s centre-backs to build the attack, as they were rarely pressured. Unwilling to drive on, they looked primarily to pick a pass through the lines. Their best bet was at times to a dropping Taylor, who left the frontline to receive directly from the centre-backs before laying off to one of England’s No.8s. By doing this, England could bypass the marking in midfield from Argentina entirely and get between the lines.

For all the possession they had, England looked most dangerous in transition. When counter-attacking, they came up against an Argentina defence that wasn’t organised and set in their shape. Argentina also had more space to cover in these instances, which left them vulnerable to 1v1 situations that, against Parris, Mead or Kirby, they couldn’t win. Often, Argentina sought to foul and stop the counter before it got too close to their own box.