Sheila García is an outside back for Atlético Madrid and the Spanish National Team. She transferred to Atlético in summer of 2021, and is having a fantastic season. She earned a spot in Spain's squad for the Arnold Clark Cup when defender Irene Paredes dropped out. When watching García it is easy to see that she has unique skills for an outside back. She can play on both the left and right sides, and her ability in attack means she could play further forward if needed. In this post I'll discuss the different aspects to her game.
García's biggest asset is her dribbling. She is very good with the ball at her feet. The subtleties of her body shape and her touches allow her to unbalance opposing defenders so that she can advance past them. Against Levante, she receives the ball in a wide position. She paused to make the defender think she could pass back to her midfielder. When the defender stepped in, she cut and dribbled down the sideline. Atlético forward Deyna Castellanos received her pass, took a shot and scored.
Video taken from Teledeporte.
In the clip below, she received a pass out wide from her center back. She was patient to let the defenders come to her and shaped her body so it looked like she could pass back to her center back or her central midfielder. After she unbalanced the two defenders with a slight pause, she took touches forward past both players.
Video taken from Teledeporte.
García also has the composure and vision to dribble out of deep defensive areas and escape pressure. Against England, after Spain regained possession on top of their own box, she was able to break through England's first wave of pressure and play out.
Video taken from Teledeporte.
As seen above, García is great ball progressor with her dribbling. She also continues to help progression with the runs she makes in the attacking third. In the clip below, she did a fantastic job of winning her 1v1 battle with the England forward and continued her run to into the box.
Video taken from Teledeporte.
For both club and country, García gets forward whenever her team has possession. This can take the form of either an underlap or an overlap, depending on the situation. Below, she overlapped Spain forward Marta Cardona. Cardona missed her pass, but García recognized that the play wasn't over when the ball ended up at midfielder Patri Guijarro's feet. García checked her run to stay onside and presented a great option in the box. Guijarro unfortunately misplaced the pass.
Video taken from Teledeporte.
Both Spain and Atlético will try to create numerical advantages in wide areas. It is not uncommon to see García in a more central position or higher up where a forward would be. Often this will create a rotational triangle which makes it harder for the opposition to keep track of marks and helps create overloads. In the photo below, García is circled in pink and her Spanish teammates are circled in purple, and Spain's attacking direction is right to left.
Like any other action in the game, it's important to be aware when a dribbling opportunity is on and when it's not. More often than not, García gets it right. In the situation below, the Levante defender does a good job using the sideline as another defender and forcing García out of play. García only needed to recognize that the dribble wasn't on in that moment.
Because García likes to get forward, it is important for both her and her team to recognize the areas that can be exploited. Against Real Madrid, she was in an advanced position, but her teammate misplaced a pass and Madrid were on an offensive transition. In the video, García can be seen pointing to a teammate to put pressure on the Madrid forward, but technically that is where she should be. Despite this sequence, García had a great game and created a ton of chances that her teammates did not finish.
Video taken from @AnkaraHansen on Twitter and originally from TeleMadrid.
Sheila García is a fantastic player with a lot of potential. She is reads the game well, holds her own defensively, and is very skilled. Spain should definitely include her in the squad for the Euros because she has the ability to give them another dimension in possession. It is exciting to see how she continues to develop and grow from here.
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