Kathellen plays 45 against Norway in a friendly

With the international break underway, Brazil were up against Norway in a friendly, in order to start preparing towards the FIFA Women’s World Cup next year.

Pia Sundhage lined up her Brazil side in a 4-4-2 fashion with Real Madrid center-back Kathellen Sousa starting at left center-back. Atletico Madrid’s Ludmila formed a duo up top with Beatriz and they were flanked by Geyse and Adriana on either side.

Norway, under Hege Riise, started out in a 4-3-3, continuing their theme of playing players in makeshift positions. Chelsea’s Guro Reiten started out in midfield alongside Arsenal’s Frida Maanum and Barcelona’s Ingrid Engen. Rosenborg’s Anna Jøsendal was given the start as well.

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Brazil started out on the front foot and caused some problems at the back. The wide players used their speed to get in behind and close down ball carriers in midfield for Norway causing easy turnovers.

Brazil used an interesting tactical quirk. Even though they were set-up in a back 4, they utilized a back 3 when building up from the back, using a 3-1 structure. They had their right back tuck in and pushed their left-back up to overload the space between the midfield and defence and allowed them to overload the box as well. Riise’s side struggled to deal with this.

Brazil found the first breakthrough via Adriana before half-time, who finished a brilliant move and showed great composure inside the box.

The second half began in a chaotic fashion and early goals meant the second half looked much more open. Brazil scored inside two minutes of the second half via Beatriz following a turnover.

While Norway managed to pull one back from corner situation via Tottenham’s Celin Bizet Ildhusøy, who capitalized on a lose ball in the box from a failed clearance. Brazil were quick to regain their 2 goal cushion following a similar situation from an attacking corner inside two minutes. Beatriz found the back of the net again after a failed clearance from a corner situation.

Any hopes of a comeback from Norway were put to bed when Jaqueline scored Brazil’s 4th from a header at the far post. Brazil looked much more threatening overall and outshot Norway 20-7 in the entire game. They looked threatening every time they entered the final third and had more penalty box entries as well.

Kathellen was playing on the left side of the defence in the absence of Arsenal’s Rafaelle Souza. She didn’t have much to do in her 45 minutes and Norway were barely able to cause any trouble. She did have a good moment of anticipation and interception to disrupt an attack. Her passing angle was restricted due to the side she was playing at but was important at circulating the ball in Brazil’s back 3 buildup.

Next up Brazil face Italy on the 10th of October.