Germany Won the Battle in Wide Areas vs France
An impressive defensive display from the Germans puts them through to the final
Germany booked a ticket to the Euro final with a win over France. It was a deserved win, and it sets up an enticing matchup with England at Wembley.
There were a lot of impressive things about Germany’s performance, but this post is going to focus on how they won the battle in the wide areas — an area where France has devasted teams with their athleticism and verticality.
Trapping France in Wide Areas
In Germany’s defensive set up, they man marked France’s three midfielders in order to bait them into playing in wide areas. Once France went wide, the German players would leave their marks to set the trap.
In the first half Germany did a great job of creating a numerical superiority in wide areas in order to regain possession.
Lena Oberdorf, who had a fantastic game, would shift across the field in order to create advantageous numerical situations for Germany and to aid in ball recovery.
Audible Cues
In the 20th and 28th minute of the game, there were two instances where France was playing out of the back and passed to a wide area. Someone can be heard yelling something as the French pass was being passed and received.
The timing and intensity of the screams lead me to believe that someone on Germany was calling out the cue to trap France out wide (I am unsure of what was actually said as I do not speak German).
Defensive Effort from Germany’s Wide Forwards
A lot of Germany’s defensive success in wide areas was due to the defensive effort from wide forwards Svenja Huth and Julie Brand. They continuously and relentlessly tracked runners and made defensive runs for the entire game.
Conclusion
There were long stretches of the game where Germany didn’t put a foot wrong defensively. It was an impressive performance on both the collective level as everyone knew the energy, intensity and positioning required, and on the individual level because many German players did well in their individual duels.
A side note on goalkeeping. In the past I myself have been critical of goalkeeping in the women’s game. However, I agree with the consensus that the goalkeeping at this Euro has been very good.
Germany goalkeeper Merle Frohms is a big contributor to this. She has been excellent throughout the tournament. It’s a trend we hope to see continue.