The Matildas are poised to eclipse the Socceroos

A lot of the Matildas were inspired by the events of November 2005 and the World Cup in Germany. A dozen years later we are bearing fruit. I can only imagine what effect the current Matildas are having on young footballers.

Spot one, as the well known commercial says, 'why can't we have both'.

Love your work Matilda's...but hold the phone....comparing apples and oranges and judging a cheetah on its ability to climb a tree!!! Completely different cats. Now let's vs each other and see what the outcome is. Matilda are fast climbing to the top and socceroos clammering to get but they are two vastly different mountains. Think Kosiosko and Everest!!!!!

Yep!!!

Think you might want to rethink your user name after that comment.

As far as I an recall, the senior men's National Team has never played Brasil in a competitive match in Australia in the past 40 years. We've played a few practice matches over the past 40 years and I'm sure no other sport in Australia could attract the equivalent crowds for a practice match against Brasil in Australia.

The Socceroos and Matildas are competing for limited financial resources. Socceroos spend is over the top, wages, coaches, top class flights and hotels and huge sports science spend. The days when the Socceroos drew 70k against China in SYdney are over, now they can;t get that against Brazil, though that was in the cheaper city of Melbourne. I think they have become a financial liability.

The AUS Men's & Women's National teams are not competing against each other on, or off, the park. The players all represent the one country: Australia. I'm 100% behind both teams. When we win, I take pride in their achievements. When we lose, I feel their disappointment & pain. The Women's team is playing very well in recent months. 12 months ago, the women's team was close to being bundled out at the Group Stage of Rio 2016. They only qualified as one of the 3rd teams in a Group of 4. So, let's enjoy the moment, but realise this is international sport & things can change quickly.

Well said

I found myself getting trapped into that conclusion as well. But remember that the Socceroos won the Asian Cup not too long ago. On the back of that win there was plenty of talk that they had become Australia's team - bettering the Wallabies and the Australian cricket team. Let's not be too quick to chuck them on the scrap heap. Let's give credit where credit is due. The Matildas have been fantastic. They have improved significantly the last few years and will hopefully continue to do so. But I for one can support both them and the Socceroos, they are not in competition with one another.

good comment there nevyn. Thanks.

It's re-writing history to suggest that the progress has largely been between the Rio Olympics and the recent games at the Tournament of Nations and the series against Brazil. This progress has been going on for the past decade and the biggest factors in this progress have been: W-League - having a national league for our players to showcase themselves not only for the national team but in search of contracts overseas has been invaluable. The increase in standard of the league and quality of the imports coming here has been a testament to that. Alan Stajic's - he overhauled the team and how we played, improving our pressing, fitness and approach which has seen us match it with the best in the world. Tom Sermanni - he built the program up over a long period of time, Stajic has taken it to the next level but Sermanni was responsible for setting the wheels in motion. I think this team is benefitting from the groundwork he did to build up the program. Matilda's players being recognised as valuable imports overseas - In the recent past there were only a handful of Matilda's playing overseas at the top level, now we have more than half the team plaing in the top leagues of Japan, Norway, Germany and the US. The exposure of our players to top level football on a regular basis has seen them improve from simply raw talent to become world class. Sam Kerr has benefited from this more than anyone else, she used to be ONLY about pace but spurned more chances than she took (I've lost count of the number of times I've held my head in my hands after seeing Sam miss a 1 v 1 in the W-League), her exposure to top level coaching and high quality opposition has polished her game and we're seing a true superstar emerge because of it. I agree with most of the sentiment above though, you can't criticise the Socceroos in that way, they have undergone their own revamp and only recently we were lauding Ange for their performances at the Confederation Cup. They will bounce back.

Without the collective strength of football, the Matildas cannot hope to keep rising. The one sport for all the family for all their life is the greatest strength of the game. Sure people get excited and a bit OTT but the Matildas need the Socceroos and vice versa. As a fan of the game and it's progress we don't need any more divides. It may be in the interests of people who don't have the games best interests at heart to push this line. At one time the Hockeyroos were the greatest Oz rep team but as their dynasty faded the men stepped up to keep media and public interest strong. I also feel their is a lot of work to do and Stajic might note that under his watch the shock goal conceded inside five minutes of Kick Off is unacceptably high at this level. The Matildas should aspire to out perform the Socceroos but their real rivals are other sports.

That's a bit rough on the men. Different game, if you look closely. But well done to the Matildas.

Well said. (NB That's a reply to Fadida - in case this comment ends up in the wrong spot).

Fantastic stuff from the Matildas. Been good for a while now, but a real chance to join other codes in embracing a world champion. Planets don't align too often, so hopefully the women can snag a world cup or olympic gold while this great team is together. Hopefully their success will rub off on the men as well and they can win world cup qualification.

My thoughts on the current status on the men's team have been made once or twice I think. Formation, selections and tactics are all open to criticism, results justify that. I do think we need to be careful though. Every article praising the women's team doesn't need to have a "if only the Socceroos..." addendum. The two teams and their results aren't directly comparable. Praise for the Matildas doesn't have to involve criticism for the Socceroos, who to a man certainly don't lack effort (even Kruse in his own fall down and beg to the ref way) as many are suggesting. Without starting a gender debate, it is much easier to attack, and attack quickly when smaller and slower players result in much bigger space across the field. Talk that the Socceroos should adopt the same tactics as their female counterparts are naive. By all means praise the fantastic Matildas, discuss the merits of the two coaches, debate whether Stajcic is a worthy successor to Ange, but avoid using the relative success of one as a stick to beat the other (who have also been relatively successful). Oh and explain what you mean by "nonsense".