Facing top-ranked Germany with a chance to reach the World Cup final, US women’s national team coach Jill Ellis decided to ditch her favored 4-4-2 formation — the one the US has used for every single game this tournament — for a 4-2-3-1. The result? A 2-0 victory over the No. 1 team in the world.
Midfielder Megan Rapinoe spoke to ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle after the match, and prasied her coach’s decision.
“I think it just helped us dominate the midfield more, and in the modern game, I think that that’s really important,” Rapinoe said. “It did free us up on the outside, but it was also able to stem their attack, and then we could start [our attack] from there. We did a good job picking passes off and getting into channels and winning balls.”
Surprisingly midfielder Morgan Brian told SI’s Grant Wahl that the team has actually rarely practiced working in a 4-2-3-1 before the knockout stages. That didn’t seem to be a problem though.
“It just seemed like a natural fit,” Ellis told Carlisle after the match.
The US defense held Germany scoreless, while the attack — which has been described as “stagnant” for most of the tournament — flowed more freely with Alex Morgan as the lone striker and midfielder Carli Lloyd, who’s been heavily criticized for much of the World Cup, playing in an attacking midfield role. Lloyd had her best game of the tournament so far, scoring the US’s first goal on a penalty kick and setting up Kelly O’Hara’s second goal with a beautiful pass across the face of the German goal 15 minutes later.
“I’ve just been training my butt off the last 12 years,” Lloyd told Carlisle. “These are the moments I live for. This is kind of when I roll up my sleeves up and say to myself, ‘I need to step up.’ I think with Jill and the coaching staff giving me the freedom to express myself out on the field, I just need to deliver in any way possible.”
While Lloyd was tasked with helping create more opportunities in the attack, the 22-year-old Brian acted as a holding midfielder, responsible for seeing the field and delivering passes up top, while also making key defensive stops when needed. Brian impressed when she started for the suspended Lauren Holiday against China in the quarterfinals, and it earned her a spot in the starting XI against Germany.
“I told her a year ago she would be starting in the World Cup,” Rapinoe told Yahoo Sports’ Eric Adelson. “Defensively, she has controlled the center of the field. She’s owned it.”
The formation switch may have payed dividends in the US’s semifinal win, but Ellis told New York Times’ Andrew Das she remains steadfast in her belief that its the players that make a system, not the other way around.
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