AFC Women's Asian Cup
Ahead of the first semi-final between China PR and Australia at Perth Stadium on Tuesday, the-AFC.com takes a deep dive into how the teams stack up ahead of their fifth ever meeting in the continental showpiece.
Dangerous positions
China PR (9 goals) and Australia (10 goals) have scored a similar number of goals, but Australia have been deadly with chances inside the box (9 goals) with only Alanna Kennedy's strike against DPR Korea in the quarter-final their only goal scored from outside the box.
China PR showed they are a threat from longer distance (4 goals) with Wang Shuang - who is suspended for the semi-final - among those lethal from range.
Clinical accuracy
Wastefulness is not part of Australia's agenda as they are converting close to their Expected Goals (10 goals to 9.69 xG), led by Sam Kerr showing her clinical side with three from 2.88 xG.
China PR, however, showed they can produce something out of nothing, managing to find the back of the net from more difficult chances (9 goals from 7.66 xG), highlighted by none other than Wang Shuang, who has two goals from just 1.29 xG.
Disciplined structure
China PR are better from a defensive standpoint, allowing only 0.78 xGA (expected goals against) for the opposition with three clean sheets with Chen Chen only needing to make three saves.
Australia - with two clean sheets - have a 3.55 xGA but have in Mackenzie Arnold, a goalkeeper in good form having made 13 saves.
Dictating play
Continuing the same theme, there's very little separating the two sides in terms of passing with Australia slightly ahead with 2,117 passes compared to China PR's 2,046.
The East Asian side have lost possession 809 times compared to the hosts' 644 times, even though neither have conceded any goals due to errors, showing the control they both have achieved in their respective matches.
Unique attacks
Where the teams differ are terms of style of play with China PR producing 22 more open play crosses in their four matches thus far, looking to utilise the height and presence of 1.79m tall forward Shao Ziqin, who has powered nine of their 20 headed attempts.
Meanwhile, Australia's attacks rely more on pace with six fast breaks (compared to China PR's one) and four through balls (compared to China PR's one) as talismanic forward Kerr excels receiving the ball on the ground.
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