Italy 4-4-2 (Giuliani – Guagni, Gama, Linari, Bartoli – Bergamaschi, Giugliano, Cernoia, Bonansea – Giacinti, Girelli)

China 4-4-2 (Peng – Han, Wu, Lin, Liu – Ying, Zhang, Yan, Gu – Shanshan, Shuang)

Italy had to fight to earn a win over China that put them in the World Cup quarter-finals. The primary reason for their struggles came with China’s pressing. China lined up in their favoured 4-4-2 system, and pressed high man-to-man. As Italy also started in their preferred 4-4-2, China’s form of pressing was easy to implement – the strikers pressed the centre-backs, the wingers pressed the full-backs, the central midfielders pressed the central midfielders, and the full-backs pressed the wingers.

With this aggressive pressing strategy, China were able to take away the time and space of Italy’s ball receivers as they tried to build from the back and through the thirds. What didn’t help Italy was the predictability of their build-up patterns – there was little to no improvisation or positional rotation; instead, they simply used the natural angles and combinations within their 4-4-2 formation – centre-back passes forward to central midfielder, who passes wide to full-back, etc. These routines failed to undermine China’s man-to-man pressing strategy – if anything, they fed into it.

China essentially turned the game into a series of individual battles with this type of high pressing, and Italy were not equipped to win them. Physically, China were the bigger side, particularly in midfield, and so Italy struggled to cope with the intensity of the pressure. Often, Italy were forced into long balls from the back, which again played into China’s physical advantage. In addition, China zoned in on goalkeeper Giuliani’s weakness kicking in open play – her kicks were often hit short and thus led to turnovers in Italy’s own half or defensive third.

Italy were simply unable to maintain possession – they ended up with a measly 37%. And, until Mauro came on up front, they lacked a good aerial target for their long balls from back to front. Even then, when Mauro came on just past the hour-mark, Italy’s long ball strategy wasn’t particularly efficient as they struggled to get up to support her to receive her flick-ons, lay-offs or win the second balls. And, even in broken play situations, China put pressure on the ball in transition, with multiple players looking to close in on or directly press the ball-player.

Offensively, China tried to stretch the game as much as possible, which again helped to turn the contest into a physical one that Italy didn’t win. They did this by having both wingers stay high as often as possible, forming a front four with Shanshan and Shuang. With less presence in midfield for both teams, the game became more open and China gained greater control as Italy failed to handle the high tempo, back-and-forth nature of the game.

China’s assertive attacking setup allowed them to counter-attack quickly. When they countered, one central forward would drop towards the ball and look to combine with the ball-winner to help China play out of Italian pressure. China also always had good numbers up front to make runs around the outside Italy’s back line, enabling quick switches of play into space to instantly put Italy’s defensive line on the back foot.

In the second half, China increased the strain on Italy’s back line by bringing on striker Yang Li for left winger Gu. From there on, left-back Liu provided a lot of the attacking width on her side while China got two natural strikers in and around the Italian penalty box, with Shuang supporting and a right winger also looking to come inside and shoot. With Italy’s centre-backs occupied by two strikers, a number of possibilities opened up for China – 1) Shuang could drop off between the lines un-marked to receive through balls to penetrate Italy’s midfield line, and 2) the wide players – Liu on the left and Ying or substitute Song on the right could get into more space to receive around the outside as Italy’s full-backs narrowed in to help guarantee cover alongside the centre-backs.

Italy switched system from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1 towards the end of the first half, with Galli coming on in central midfield to replace striker Girelli. But the change failed to affect the game. China’s pressure continued to force Italy long, meaning they couldn’t use their extra player in midfield, and Galli, Giugliano and Cernoia struggled to cover both the width of the pitch and the movement of Shuang on their blind side.

China controlled the contest even after Italy’s system switch, and looked to overload the Italian defence with balls into the box if they couldn’t play through them. With the sheer numbers China had in the penalty area, they had a good chance of winning the second or third ball if they couldn’t get shots off from the initial cross in. Ultimately, their lack of precision in the final third was costly. But credit must also go to Italy’s defensive four – Guagni, Gama, Linari and Bartoli. They defended their penalty box superbly to help their country into the last eight.