Chelsea will see their Women’s World Cup contingent reduced dramatically after tonight’s game between Norway and England. Millie Bright’s illness shifts the odds towards the three Blue Norwegians progressing into the semifinals.
Phil Neville has spent the days leading up to England’s quarterfinal match with Norway doing his best impression of a duck: calm and composed on the surface, paddling like hell underneath. England has relied heavily on their centrebacks throughout the Women’s World Cup, as the Lionesses’ defensive midfield structure and, to a lesser extent, full-backs have been among their greatest liabilities. Both of Neville’s regular centrebacks – Steph Houghton and Chelsea FCW’s Millie Bright – will be last minute decisions for the quarterfinal starting XI.
Houghton appears at least 50/50, having taken a stomping “tackle” on the ankle late in the Round of 16 game against Cameroon. Bright is much more doubtful, having taken the brunt of a virus Neville said had been making it’s way through the squad.
Losing the starting centrebacks for an elimination match when the rest of the defensive structure is already suspect is bad enough. Norway are particularly well-suited to take advantage of England’s misfortune.
Norway has had one of the best attacks through the centre of the pitch throughout the tournament. Caroline Graham Hanson is a top all-around attacker, aggressively dribbling at and then past midfielders and defenders. Her runs off the ball and passes to other forwards – particularly striker Isabell Herlovsen – can stretch and split a defensive line in the box to create scoring opportunities.
Norway also have attacking options from the flanks, particularly the left. Guro Reiten, who will join Chelsea FCW after the Women’s World Cup, is Norway’s most creative player. She draws defenders to her, which will create more space for Hanson and Herlovsen in the box.
Supporting the attack, particularly if Norway are aggressively targeting England’s substitute defence, would be Chelsea’s Maren Mjelde. Mjelde plays increasingly forward when Norway has prolonged possession high in the attacking zone, with one of the full-backs dropping back to cover Maria Thorisdottir.
Mjelde’s main role would be keeping the attack deep in England’s zone, recovering any clearances and quickly sending the ball up to the midfielders to keep England pinned back. However, she can appear almost in a full-back position to send in more direct passes leading to a scoring chance.
Phil Neville may choose to keep the pressure off his back-up centrebacks by keeping the pressure going in the other direction and not allowing Norway many chances to target his back line. This hopefully would bring Fran Kirby into the play more than she often has been in the tournament. Many of England’s most creative attacks have run through the Chelsea midfielder, but many times the play circles around her as she makes runs off the ball to facilitate the build-up and chance creation.
Another made-in-Kingsmeadow option for Neville is starting Carly Telford in goal. Telford last played in the group stage finale against Argentina. She is quicker off her line and in her distribution than Karen Bardsley. Neville may use her almost as a sweeper-keeper to support the less experienced centre-back pair, and to launch England on counter-attacks when Norway is drawn far up the pitch in a sustained attack.
Neville points out that he rotated heavily in the build-up to the Women’s World Cup specifically to prepare for a situation like this, and is therefore unshaken by the potential loss of Steph Houghton and Millie Bright.
However, this is among the worst combinations of injuries and opponents England could face at this stage of the tournament. Norway’s offence was already suited to exploiting England’s frequent disorganization through midfield and defence, and now England have lost not only their two most reliable defenders, but against a team who can slice open the centre of the final third as well as anyone.