A Numbers Game: Westfield Matildas performances at the FIFA Women's World Cup

In any profession, challenges arise that must be overcome to move forward and thrive. The Westfield Matildas’ experience at the FIFA Women’s World Cup has been no different.

Adapting to different game situations, opposition and tactics can mean defence turns into attack in the blink of an eye. Today we’re going to look at the Westfield Matildas’ style of play over the last three campaigns and how it has evolved.

The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup saw the Westfield Matildas record their most goals (9), shots on target (21), headed shots (13) and shots inside the box (42) in any of the last three campaigns.

Indeed, the Westfield Matildas 42 shots inside the box at the 2019 event accounted for 72% of their 58 total shots – over 10 percentage points more than they managed in their next most prolific campaign (2011 – 35/59 – 59%). Sam Kerr accounted for eight of the Westfield Matildas 13 headed shots at this tournament, the most of any player in the competition overall.  

The Westfield Matildas have increased their number of passes, passing in the opposition half and passes played into the box in each of the last three FIFA Women’s World Cups, crossing the 2,000 mark in 2019 (2,170) with a passing accuracy of 80.9% - their highest in the last three campaigns.

This impressive feat was also replicated in the opposition half of the field, where the Westfield Matildas made 1,000+ passes (1,118) at a single tournament for the first time since Opta began collecting the data.

In addition, the Westfield Matildas almost doubled their number of passes into the box (171) in 2019 from the 2011 edition (93), a noticeable improvement.

FIFA Women's World Cup - Pitch Position Passing (Australia)

Digging deeper and we can see the Westfield Matildas have increased their number of passes in the defensive and middle third of the field at each of the last three FIFA Women’s World Cups. In the final third they have improved their accuracy at each tournament, culminating in a high of 57% at the 2019 edition having made their most passes (683) in any of the Westfield Matildas’ last three campaigns in this area of the field.

Indeed, Australia’s improvements through the middle third saw them rank second in passing accuracy in that area at the 2019 edition. Only Japan (84.9%) finished the competition with a higher figure in the middle third. Steph Catley was among the premier controllers in this area; she finished with 149 successful passes from 159 attempts in the middle third for an accuracy of 94% - the second-highest of any player to make 100+ pass attempts in the region.

The 2019 tournament saw them make over 1,000 passes (1,158) for an accuracy above 80% (84.3%) in the middle third, both for the first time since Opta started collecting the data.

FIFA Women's World Cup - Australia

Perhaps the Westfield Matildas’ upward curves in passing and goals can be attributed to the reduced defensive workload they have had to endure and when they have had possession, they’ve been using it more efficiently.

The number of clearances the Westfield Matildas have had to make at the FIFA Women’s World Cup has declined year-on-year since 2011, while tackles and blocks declined from 2011 to 2015 before experiencing a small increase in 2019. Although, this could also be attributed to the quality of opposition the Westfield Matildas have come across at each event.

FIFA Women's World Cup - Australia (2011 - 2019) Per Game Averages

The Westfield Matildas have played a 4-3-3 formation in the majority (8) of their last 13 FIFA Women’s World Cup matches, averaging more goals per game (1.9) in such fixtures than the rest of their games combined.

Despite averaging fewer total shots (12.3) per game in 4-3-3 than in other formations (14.2), they have averaged more shots on target playing in this style (4.6 per game).

With Australia teaming up with New Zealand in a bid to host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, it’d be an amazing opportunity for the Westfield Matildas to build upon the steady improvements they’ve made over the last number of years.