USYNT's Shape Issues & How They Can Learn from Real Sociedad
The youth national team and the La Liga side deployed similar setups over the weekend
On Sunday, the U20 US Women’s National Team played the Netherlands in the ongoing U20 World Cup.
It wasn’t a pretty game for the US, and it was reflected in the score line — 3-0 for the Dutch.
Real Sociedad’s (who I will refer to as La Real throughout the post) men’s team had their La Liga opener at Cádiz on Sunday.
Both teams set up similarly in and out of possession. However, the La Real had much more success.
This post is going to look at the struggles that the US had with their shape, and how La Real were set up better in similar situations.
Defensive Shape
The US set up in a 4-3-3 when the Netherlands had the ball. The midfield and forward lines were setup in upside down triangles.
Throughout the game Dutch center back Samantha Van Diemen consistently found line breaking passes. She would often break both the US’ forward and midfield lines.
Van Diemen took advantage of the high positioning of the forward and midfield lines.
Real Sociedad also set up in a 4-3-3 formation with upside down triangles, but there was a key difference.
Because La Real’s pressing line was lower, it allowed their overall shape to be more compact.
The US were very eager to position themselves high and press when they were out of possession.
La Real’s 6 was also tasked with staying deep and screening the back line. It meant that there was always a deep midfield presence.
The 8’s for Real Sociedad had the freedom to go forward in possession but were disciplined to start deeper when they were in their defensive shape so that they could pressure in wide and half spaces.
Even when the US found themselves in a position similar to that of La Real, they didn’t get it right.
Offensive Shape
Early in the first half, the US decided that they were going to switch to a 3 back in possession because the original game plan wasn’t working.
However, it took them a while to figure out how they wanted to do it and they would end up in awkward positions like the one below.
After a while, they figured out who was going to stay behind to make up the back 3.
The thought behind a back 3 was probably to push more players higher and into offensive areas.
A familiar problem resurfaced in these situations in that all the players were in high positions behind opposition players. The back 3 had no passing options in the midfield and it was a setup conducive to long balls which was predictable.
It’s something the full US Women’s National team has and continues to struggle with.
There were moments in Real Sociedad’s game vs Cádiz where they formed a 3 back in possession.
A key difference was that the 3 back was formed by the 6 dropping in between the center backs. This allowed La Real to keep their overall shape intact and protected them from transitions and counter attacks.
Another difference was that the 3 back had passing options available to them when they were progressing forward.
Conclusion
Credit to the Netherlands because they played well, but Sunday was a worrying performance from the US. Not only on a collective level, but also an individual level.
For as athletic as the selected players are, they read the game very poorly, and they would often lose the ball on the dribbles and in tight areas.
For me it always goes back to what the focus of the US Federation is. When will there be an emphasis on developing players into good footballers? When will actual good footballers get national team looks versus players that are tremendous athletes, but not as great at the football itself?
Photo: US Soccer