NWSL side the Houston Dash have just acquired the services of twenty-year-old Brazilian international Tarciane for a reported fee of €470,000, a record fee for any Brazilian player.
Since making her senior debut for Fluminese at the age of 16, she has established herself as a regular first-team player before being transferred to Corinthians in 2021.
Since being transferred, Tarciane has gone from strength to strength, having helped her side to three consecutive Brasiliero Women’s titles and two Copa Libertadores championships. This success has also resulted in her earning a call-up to the Brazilian national team in 2022, and she has since gone on to establish herself as a regular starter within the side.
Having just completed her record-breaking move to Houston, she will be looking to continue to challenge herself in a new environment. Houston struggled at the start of the 2024 NWSL season, recording only one win from their opening five games.
This tactical analysis will outline the key tactics and traits that make Tarciane’s transfer to Houston so interesting. This scout report will provide an analysis of her positional role, defensive attributes, potential improvements and how she will fit into the Houston Dash side.
Position and Role
First of all, let’s look at the roles that Tarciane has played in her career to date to garner a better understanding of who she is as a player. Now, her typical position for both Corinthians and the Brazilian national team has been right centre-back.
At Corinthians, this has generally been as part of a back four in either a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 formation, with iterations of these two formations accounting for 85% of their game time over the past year. However, she has played on the right side of a back three for Brazil, with Brazil having utilised a 3-4-3 formation of late.
Tarciane’s greatest strengths are her ability to defend with excellent physical attributes in terms of speed, strength, and length, with her listed at 6’0 tall. As a result, she is an aggressive defender who can mark opponents and win the ball from them. She is also an adept cover defender with excellent recovery speed. However, we will go into these attributes in more depth later on.
Then, let’s have a look at the opposite side of the ball when she has it at her feet. This has certainly not been her strength, with her sparingly being asked to be involved with ball progression. The primary ball progressor roles fell to Mariza at Corinthians, Rafaelle, or Antonia for the Brazilian national team.
However, despite this, she has demonstrated some ability in this area, completing at the fifth highest rate amongst all other central defenders in the Brasileiro Serie A at 88.69%. This is also up from 82.22% in 2023, which shows a promising upward trend. On top of this, she has demonstrated some intention to play forward, with 35% of her average of 41.09 passes being attempted forward.
This heatmap goes to show that her primary role within the Corinthians side is to remain deep as the right centre-back as opposed to making regular forays forwards.
Defensive understanding and positioning
The first aspect of Tarciane that we are going to look at in more detail is her ability to be aggressive and step into the midfield to make strong physical tackles to divert possession elsewhere.
One of the most obvious ways to demonstrate this is through a 62.5% defensive duel completion rate. Then, you can combine this with an aerial duel success rate of 88.89%, the highest amongst all players, averaging over one aerial duel per 90.
However, not only is she strong in the duel, but she is also particularly adept at timing her tackles to be most effective. She uses her excellent length in the tackle to ‘get a toe in’ and divert possession elsewhere.
In this example here, Japan’s goalkeeper plays the ball forward. Still, Tarciane is alert to it and able to get tight to the opponent and use her length to hold her position as the goalside of her opponent while still having the reach to get her foot around the defender and get a foot on the ball and divert possession.
It is also important to highlight Tarciane’s ability to defend against focal point strikers who want to play with their back to goal and use their strength to hold the ball up.
However, here, the ball is played towards Canada’s WSL striker Deanne Rose, who looks to hold off Tarciane. Tarciane is having none of it, though. She uses her strength to hold her own in the tackle and then deploys her length to get a foot in the tackle and divert possession elsewhere, preventing Rose from holding the ball up.
In this example, you can see the effect that Tarciane can have aerially with the corner played in by Japan. Tarciane is defending in zonal marking on the edge of the six-yard area, towering above her opponents and able to clear the ball away as a result.
Cover defending and potential improvements
Another area in which Tarciane has demonstrated particular quality is her ability to defend in open space and make recovery tackles. This makes her an excellent option if you want to play a high defensive line.
This ability to be mobile is demonstrated by her 9.66 Padj interceptions per 90, which is the 11th-highest in the division. This demonstrates how sharp she is and, as a result, how she can win the ball back from teammates.
Now, the major component of her effectiveness at cover defending is her speed, which enables her to recover when opponents are in space behind the defence and means she can cover ground quickly. Additionally, she is able to use her length and size to make slide tackles to win the ball from opponents.
This example demonstrates Tarciane’s understanding of when to commit and when to hold off. With America Mineira winning back the ball, they played it down the left channel to the space vacated by an advanced Corinthians full-back.
Tarciane understands that she should not dive in, though. Instead, she should hold the attack up, allow her teammate to recover, and let the team get back into defensive shape.
In this example, Santos has been able to find and target a disconnect in the Corinthians’ backline. However, Tarciane is able to make up for her opponent’s initial head start and make a slide tackle that prevents a dangerous attack from developing.
One noted weakness within her game is the fact that she can be too right-side dominant, particularly with her footwork. As a result, she can make awkward movements; using her right foot when using her left foot may be more prudent, which, at times when defending, can restrict her ability to defend.
Here, Japan has got in behind the Brazil backline out wide and is in a position to play a ball across the box. Initially, Tarciane is in a good position in front of her defender, where she can block any potential ball into the box.
However, the ball is played behind the defensive line towards Tarciane’s left foot. She is significantly more comfortable using her right to her left, so she attempts a right-footed swiping clearance. However, she misses the ball, leaving the Japan forward, Mina Tanaka, with a tap in the box.
If, instead of a reckless swipe at the ball, she had set herself and been able to get her body behind it and use her left foot, she may have been able to clear the ball and prevent danger from developing.
How she fits in at Houston
Now that we have looked at some significant characteristics within her game, let’s see how she may fit in at the Houston Dash.
In the 2024 season, the Houston Dash started by deploying a 3-5-2 formation in four of the first five games. However, in their most recent game against the Portland Thorns, Fran Alonso’s side played a 4-4-2 formation.
The predominant centre-back combination has been Sophie Schmidt in the middle, Sarah Puntigam on the left, and Courtney Petersen on the right.
The likely suggestion would be that Tarciane goes on the right side of the defence. She is well suited to playing in a back four or back three, which provides Alonso with the flexibility to find his best combination.
At present, Houston has the worst defensive record of any side in the division, conceding an xGA of 12.53, which has resulted in conceding 14 goals. In addition, Houston has the worst aerial duel success rate of 36.1%.
All this considered you can see the instant effect that Tarciane can have on this Houston side. Her commitment to aggressive defending and pressing is an area that Houston can certainly improve on.
In possession, Houston has also struggled to control games, averaging the fifth-lowest average possession of 47.9%. Tarciane’s ability to regain the ball can help win the ball back for the side, particularly when she steps up into the midfield and can win the ball there. This will be vital as they look to sustain attacks for longer periods and prevent opponents from counterattacking them.
Throughout the season, Houston has put themselves under pressure when playing out from the back. This, in turn, has left them isolated and forced the defenders to defend in open space, which Houston has struggled with. Tarciane can certainly impact this aspect.
In this example, you can see Houston trying to play out from the back with Petersen. However, the ball is lost to NC Courage in the midfield. As the ball is lost, Houston’s defenders are caught out too far forward, which leaves them exposed one-on-one in open space.
Conclusion
The signing of Brazilian international Tarciane from Corinthians to the Houston Dash could have a huge impact on the team, which has really struggled at the start of this 2024 NWSL campaign.
At only 20 years old, Tarciane still has room to improve on her already impressive skill set, as outlined throughout this scout report. We are certainly excited to see how this transfer pans out over the remainder of the season.
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