Wasn't just talking about against us. They didn't create a lot of good scoring chances vs Germany or Sweden either.
And yea, one way to create that space is by us possessing the ball-which wouldn't always work. Japan could have played deep even if we did possess and let us pass the ball around at midfield. It's not threatening when you are passing that far from goal, so it isn't a necessity to apply a lot of pressure.
Another way is when Japan had the ball, win it back and then counter (like the 1st goal) since Japan's defenders would be high up the field which is more of what I was talking about. Every time Japan pushed up, would have sent Morgan the other way as soon as we won the ball back. If Japan gets it back big deal, they had very little threatening buildup play. Obviously this isn't an effective long term strategy, but that shouldn't matter. In this particular game, it likely would have been. At tournaments, there is one goal...win. You need to take advantage of the other team's weaknesses and play to your strengths.
I just want to make sure the team is still versatile. There are times when you need to play possession and times you need to play a little more direct. We showed we can switch our style around depending on the opponent and be successful which is a good thing. I don't want to become dependent on one playing style or one formation (especially with how often coaching changes occur at the national level). Barca is amazing. But when they get in trouble (which rarely happens), they have no plan B. They just continue playing the exact same way and hope for the best which usually works. Only the major European teams pose Barca any challenge, but this happened vs Chelsea 3 years ago and Inter 2 years ago. Both those teams had great gameplans for Barca who struggled to create their usual scoring opportunities. Against Inter it was very obvious. Needing 2 goals and up a man for nearly the entire game, there was no sense of urgency just continue being patient. Barca gets away with it due to being better than everyone else, we don't have the players to become dependent on one style of play like that.
