China 4-4-2 (Peng – Han, Wu, Lin, Liu – Li, Zhang, W Yang, Gu – Shanshan, Shuang)

Spain 4-2-3-1 (Panos – Corredera, Paredes, Leon, Ouahabbi – Virginia, Patri – L Garcia, Hermoso, Caldentey – N Garcia)

A clash of styles took place as a resolutely non-possession China took on possession-obsessed Spain. The result was a fairly dull 0-0 draw, allowing both to progress to the knockout rounds.

China defended in their usual 4-4-2 mid-block. Their front two of Shanshan and Shuang didn’t press the Spanish centre-backs, instead allowing Paredes and Leon comfortable possession and screening their passing options in midfield. With zonal coverage, China’s aim was to remain compact in their shape at all times, which made it hard for Spain to break the first two lines of Chinese defence.

Paredes and Leon exchanged passes in a bid to open passing lanes into midfield, but this rarely led to any gaps in China’s first two lines. In order to get on the ball, Virginia and Patri – acting as a double pivot in Jorge Vilda’s 4-2-3-1 – had to drop and operate in front of the Chinese defensive block. However, if the pair received possession from the centre-backs between the lines, they were immediately closed down from behind by Zhang and Yang. Forced backwards, Spain would then trigger pressing from the Chinese, who used the backwards passes as an opportunity to step up collectively and apply pressure to their opposition’s centre-backs.

It all felt very familiar – Spain struggled to use their possession dominance to good effect against South Africa and Germany in their opening two games, and the same thing happened, albeit in a different way, here. The only major difference was that China, unlike Spain’s previous two opponents, lacked the speed in transition to cause problems whenever they did win the ball. There was no Thembi Kgatlana or Svenja Huth for them to use to attack the spaces outside and behind Spain’s centre-backs, who were fairly comfortable and have shown good 1v1 defending quality throughout the tournament.

Unable to connect through the thirds with any real effectiveness, Spain had some success playing more directly at times. Hermoso, who is a tall forward, acted as a good outlet for long balls, winning headers and showing awareness of what was around her to aim flick-ons for on-running teammates. However, this tactic was not used enough. Perhaps, going forward, Spain might want to make more use of this, with Nahikari Garcia, Lucia Garcia and Caldentey making runs off of Hermoso to try and get in behind defences. Certainly, building up as they did here against a compact USA 4-3-3  who can also counter rapidly is a disaster waiting to happen.

In the closing stages Vilda changed the team’s shape as Spain went from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3. This change helped solve the problem of not being able to build through the thirds, as it gave Spain an overload in central midfield that they occasionally used to build through. Virginia could attract pressure when she received, creating space behind China’s central midfielders for Patri or substitute Alexia to exploit and receive in. But the change was made too late, and China were able to seal a crucial point despite having just 36% possession and one shot – yes, one! – all game (and it wasn’t even on target).