At last year’s Euros quarter-final in Brighton, Spain gave England the biggest scare of the tournament they won. In the 2019 World Cup, Spain narrowly lost to the US, who won it in the end. They may very well have been the second-best team at both tournaments.
A year on from the Amex, and for differing reasons, the teams feature different players but they still go into Sunday’s World Cup final as the two best teams in the tournament. I don’t think it makes sense to speak about the missing players (those who walked out for Spain and were not called up again and those who suffered injuries for England). The players who are there now are those who achieved this. It’s the first time for England in the final and the first time for Spain. The players deserve their moment.
Both sides have had the majority of possession in their games. My prediction for the final is that Spain will be the team with more possession. How will England cope with having less than 40%?
In the semi-final, they were able to use possession to control Australia. England will need to control Spain via their defensive plan, by controlling spaces and areas for longer spells than they have been used to.
They had interesting solutions in their pressing of Australia and I wonder if they can do the same against Spain. They varied between their wing-backs pressing up or one of the central midfielders going out, Georgia Stanway, who pressed Australia’s left-back. Spain’s midfield trio may be too skilful for England to get away with that.
Another leading Spanish danger comes off the wings and if England want to stick with three in defence, their wing-backs need to be clear in their decision‑making.
Low or high? If I were England, against Spain’s style of play, I’d aim to disrupt them by varying the approach. At times, be super-aggressive in the press, almost a player-to-player approach, leaving no room. If that doesn’t work, then drop deeper into a low block, keeping the wing-backs deeper, offering protection down every channel. The worst thing would be to allow Spain to lull you into their rhythm. Disrupt them enough and you can capitalise.
If England accept they are going to have less of the ball then it’s all about setting out where they want Spain to have it. You can be much more aggressive the further away you are from your own goal and that’s where we’ve really seen England develop from last year’s Euros. I call it “game craft”, though others call it dark arts. Every time Australia’s Sam Kerr got the ball, England players came after her. The one time they didn’t, she scored.
They constantly delay their opponents, stopping quick restarts. These things add up and hand you the margins and there’s no doubt England have had them on their side. That’s because they’ve worked very hard in pushing the small details.
It’s a very mature team and they rarely get yellow cards for their game craft, showing me they have worked out the officiating. That’s really smart as a referee decides what is allowed and what is not. You want to have the other team thinking about something other than their gameplan as that will further disrupt them.
England did have Lauren James sent off in the last 16. It happens and, as I said at the time, it was a case of decision fatigue. She has now served her two-game suspension. She said sorry and that incident is not a reason she shouldn’t start the final.
It always comes back to the tactical side. England’s strongest, most balanced performance was in the semi-final. I really liked the dynamic of Ella Toone and Stanway running in behind. It allowed Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo to drop in. Given the quality of that quartet’s central movement, I don’t see any reason to change.
There’s an extra dimension to consider. I can’t think of a better impact player than James if the game should open up. We’ve seen it already; she needs only one moment to turn that into a goal. Is that moment more likely in the first 10 minutes of the game when everything is organised or in the later stages? If you are searching for that moment, she is ideal. It makes sense to keep her as an impact sub.
The semi-final between Spain and Sweden was won by the introduction of Salma Paralluelo providing a shift in momentum. A key part of modern coaching is to have the right starting XI and the right finishing XI. Every game looks different in the second half to the first.
Who represents the main threats to England? That is Aitana Bonmatí, who plays as a No 8 but has the No 6 on her back. She’s another “moments” player, so composed: she can arrive late in the penalty area, she doesn’t need space and time to turn a situation. Also, the England players will know the full-back Ona Batlle from her time with Manchester United. She’s excellent at timing her runs, overlapping and underlapping.
As for Paralluelo, she was a global talent at track and field but athleticism alone is not worth so much in football. She combines it with really good technique and game intelligence. She’s grown into this World Cup and may well be the young player of the tournament.
Where do I start with Sarina Wiegman, who has to devise England’s winning strategy? She has so many different qualities and has just been so impressive. What worked so well and with such clarity in 2022 hasn’t worked with this group of players, but I see a coach providing the best, most pragmatic solutions.
The best coaches try things to fix problems, put players in the positions that get the best out of them. England’s evolution through the tournament perfectly demonstrates a coach doing that. Sarina has been by far the best coach of a tournament when there’s been an awful lot of good coaching.
