Crosses into the penalty box have increasingly been a reliable way to improve a team’s chances of shooting and scoring a goal. In this blog, Game Insights Analyst Luke Saunders explores the impact of crossing at the Women’s World Cup and its transformation over the last few tournaments.
There were a total of 1553 crosses attempted at the 2023 Women’s World Cup which was an average of 12 per team per game – France utilised width when attacking which produced 23 crosses per game (highest in tournament) and 3 goals from crosses (second in tournament to Norway with 4). With 24 goals being assisted by a cross (1/3 of all open play goals), this blog focuses on the context around crossing – where they were delivered from, to and their impact.
Getting the ball into the penalty box is a sure-fire way to increase your team’s chances of getting a shot away at goal and crosses are a great way of achieving this: teams at the 2023 Women's World Cup converted more crosses into shots than at previous editions of the tournament: 2015: 1 in 9; 2019: 1 in 7; 2023: 1 in 6.
As teams progress the ball up the pitch and work it out wide to dangerous areas, they are more likely to send a cross into the penalty box – 80% of all open play crosses were delivered from wide areas and of all the goals assisted from crosses, 63% of them were from wide areas.
40% of all open play goals were scored in the second six-yard box at the 2023 Women’s World Cup which highlights it as an important zone to get shots away in. In 2015, 28% of crosses were delivered to the second six-yard box and since then, each tournament has seen an increase: 34% in 2019 and 36% in 2023. When defending and attacking crosses, how can we optimise the timing of player runs and movement in the box to increase the chance of getting a shot at goal or clearing the ball successfully? Can we design game-specific practices which help players to position themselves in the best place possible?
The significance of this zone is amplified when we find that 63% of goals scored from crosses at the 2023 tournament were converted from the second six-yard box. In fact, 100% of goals scored from crosses were scored from within the width of the six-yard box.
The 2023 Women’s World Cup also saw more attacking players in the box (2.4) when a cross was delivered than in 2019 (2.2) which highlights the importance of scanning – is the crosser aware of whether they have teammates in the best position before delivering the cross? Are their teammates attacking the right areas and supporting the attack at the right times?
Coaching considerations
When creating crossing and finishing practice sessions, consider not only the source location but also the finish location.
Are your players able to choose the right time to deliver the cross? Are they encouraged to use skills such as delaying or beating a defender with some deception or using a particular technique to find their teammate? How could we design practice sessions which increase the chances of delivering crosses into dangerous areas and scoring goals? How could we use this information to develop strategies to defend against crosses?
For further reading, check out some of our other work:
Using insight to inform practice design: Goalscoring insights and implications
Finishing from inside the box: ‘In it to win it’
Finishing in the Euros: Analysing crossing and what this means for working with younger players