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Brazil/Norway

Brazil’s exceedingly gifted squad (read: player) saw them through.

…in spite of the unorthodox 3-4-3 formation. As is echoed below, Kleiton Lima’s system has drawn criticism after each of Brazil’s group stage matches. The set-up employs four and sometimes five bands of players. There’s a three-back defense with a supposed sweeper, two holding midfielders (Formiga and Renata Costa), two wingers that sometimes track back to become wingbacks (Maurine and Fabiana), and two attackers that operate in free roles (Marta and Cristiane) that play off central striker Rosana.

Confused? You’re in good company, because the team seems to be as well. It looks to have taken about three full halves before the players finally settled into the formation. By the second half today, Marta had really kicked into gear while Norway had clicked off. Marta’s brilliance and Cristiane’s alertness in front of goal pushed Brazil over the finish line and into the quarterfinals. It wasn’t a thoroughly convincing performance, but any team with Marta will be in contention. She’s just that good. No formation can handcuff her brilliance.

Three minutes of madness doomed Norway.

Norway looked to contain Brazil fairly well in the first half – the somewhat controversial Marta goal notwithstanding. Norway’s 4-2-3-1 system gave the team a distinct numerical advantage in the midfield, and Brazil could never quite find its rhythm. It seemed like Norway’s back four hadn’t mentally arrived for the start of the second half as it defense conceded two goals in a span of three minutes. Marta and Cristiane ran directly at the heart of Norway’s defense and wrought havoc. Norway saved itself from further humiliation, but now need to defeat Australia next week to have any shot of advancing to the knockout round.

Australia/Equatorial Guinea

Genoveva Anonman managed to nab two goals, but not three points.

There’s only so much that one player to do. Equatorial Guinea weren’t able to muster the same team performance it put forth against Norway. Genoneva Anonman was very much in talismanic form, however. The fleet-footed no. 10 gave Australia’s back line much chase and scored two goals off of solo runs. Her team wasn’t able to provide much support in attack and eventually fell to a dynamic, but tactically organized Australia. The score line is a tad misleading, as is explained below.

Despite two defensive gaffes, Australia look a solid bunch.

Head coach Tom Sermanni made five changes to his line-up from Wednesday, including pulling goalkeeper Melissa Barbieri and striker Lisa De Vanna. He also made tactical tweaks that included using Heather Garriock and Samantha Kerr as proper wingers in an attack-minded 4-3-3. The changes paid dividends as Australia maintained possession of the ball and showcased some fine combination play. Garriock’s fluid movement made central striker and goal scorer Leena Khamis a real threat.

The Matildas’ bright performance is blighted by two defensive errors by center-back Servet Uzunlar. Rather than releasing the ball quickly out of the back, the 22-year-old showed some tentativeness on the ball and was made to pay for it as Anonman pick-pocketed her on both occasions. Uzunlar had shown well against Brazil, but is reportedly prone to such mistakes. Think she’ll ever attempt dribbling out of the back again?

The game will also be remembered for a truly shambolic performance by the officiating crew. The non-call on such a flagrant handball is just inexcusable. Other than the Germany/Nigeria game, we had been enjoying a very well-officiated tournament up to now.

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