Matchday 7 – Player of the Match

Members of our Technical Study Group (TSG) are attending every game of the tournament and are tasked with awarding the Player of the Match accolades. When choosing the recipient of the accolade, our experts consider the player's tactical, physical and mental contribution to their team's performance.

Player of the Match: (18) Onyeka Gamero (USA) 

Nigeria were the first team to book their place in the semi-finals, defeating the USA 4-3 on penalties after an intriguing game that finished 1-1 in normal time. 

It was a game of contrasting styles as the USA dominated possession, but Nigeria's tight-marking system proved effective. Our TSG observed the tight contest and selected Onyeka Gamero of the USA as the player of the match. 

According to Mónica Vergara, "She is a very smart player, and she really understands the game and sees things that can happen. She is often one step ahead of the play and is explosive when she has the ball. She can receive in very tight spaces and has the technical ability to keep the ball really close to her and get out of those spaces using both feet."

"She can cross the ball and play through-balls because she sees how to play into space, but she also works very hard for the team when they do not have the ball. She is unpredictable which makes her very difficult to defend against. In this game she was always marked tightly, sometimes by more than one player, but she was still able to impose herself on the game and that was very impressive," added Vergara.    

Player of the Match: (7) Mara Alber (GER) 

Germany join Nigeria in the semi-finals after a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Brazil. Mara Alber's constant involvement in Germany's performance saw her receive the TSG's Player of the Match award. The left winger was the number one ranked player in the game for balls received (46) and number two for both offers to receive (57) and completed distributions (25). 

Here, the TSG's Anna Signeul gives her thoughts on Alber's performance: 

"She is a very technical player and has very good game awareness. She knows where she is on the pitch in relation to her own team-mates and the opposition and can therefore use the space she finds very well," she explained. 

"She makes good decisions because she considers her surroundings and also knows when she is close enough to goal to be a threat. She has a lovely strike technique, both for shots and for set play deliveries. Her accuracies make them a real weapon for her team, and we saw an example of this for the decisive goal when her freekick delivery was inch-perfect for Marie Steiner's opening goal," added Signeul.