Matildas dusted, but not done

Anon I respect your admiration for aflw and Erin Philips is a powerful athlete as are many of the male afl players However I don’t buy into the thread that afl players would make great soccer players. Soccer is such a technical game and the skill errors that afl players constantly make would see them fail at soccer . Sam Kerr has been successful through her athletic prowess locally in a 12 game season against mainly amateur w league players......but internationally especially against the European women .. she is totally shown up to be poorly skilled at soccer and is nowhere near the Matilda’s best player. I would actually have Sam come off the bench . You only have to look at how the amateurs from Ireland have constantly beat our Aussie men at afl to see Aussies are not that good at skills.? However soccer and afl are both great to watch and it’s great to see your comments on the soccer tab . Cheers

Winning is all is what we should aiming for. No need for negativity mate.

Is it more than a coincidence that the Matildas drop off while AFLW makes an ascent. How good would we be if Erin Phillips picked up a soccer ball instead of a Sherrin when she was young?

Its a real bad look when your two central defenders pass the ball back and forward then back to the keeper. That's their idea of how you go about winning any game of footy let alone a World Cup. We're stuffed for ideas, playmakers or being able to adapt as the game changes. We need to change this mindset quickly.

Reaching the quarter final is the pass mark.

Obviously an overrated achievement. That's the thing with football, it doesnt have a culture of Test matches. International games between the big tournaments dont matter. You just dont know what the other team is trying to do, at what stage of development they're at, and how much the players are putting in.

If they go home in the 1st knockout round are they really any better than any of our other teams or athletes that compete on the world stage? Because that's all I've been hearing on the Roar since the last world cup.

'Playing through the middle' is un-Australian.

I don't expect any changes in tactics so it will come down to changing the starting lineup. This should make it easier for Brazil to prepare. While Brazil looked good against Jamaica the Matildas will need to draw on recent defeats of Brazil, who I think will be confident from their win but less so the longer they can't score against the Matildas. Kerr is a known quantity and will be heavily checked, as will Foord and Raso. More vertical play through the middle and passing through Brazil's backline will nullify the 'wide-play only' thoughts Brazil have of us being one dimensional. While not impossible to win, conceding to Brazil early will mount huge pressure on us to go all-out attack similar to later Italy game - which will make us more vulnerable to Brazil's capable counter-attack abilities. A draw won't be the end of the world (cup) but a loss most likely will be.

The win against the USA was almost 2 years ago - mid 2017. That is probably when they peaked. In 2018 they struggled at the Asian Cup - they got to the final with one win and three draws (winning on penalties in the semi-final) and then were outplayed by Japan. They did draw with the USA in mid-2018, but since then have been beaten by France, Chile, USA, Netherlands and now Italy.

sure does JB. Shades of Aloisi at Roar. If you have a chance, look at the France team at the World Cup. In their opening game they utilized the header really well, I can't recall her name but she was a tall central defender, unmistakeable. But of course she scored off set pieces, as a defender. Sam Kerr has scored off headers in the past, but not routinely. I think one, maybe two she connected with the other night went wildly astray.

Lionheart. Don't know if you've noticed or not but heading as a skill is slowly but surely disappearing from our game here in Australia. The only 2 outstanding headers of a ball I can recall in national teams in the last 6 years are Cahill and Josh Kennedy. If this observation is accepted then the tactic of "getting crosses into the box" is surely a waste of time and energy. Let's face it, with those two former Socceroos now retired, who is going to take up the gauntlet and win the ball against defenders hell bent on getting high clearing headers out of the danger area. Against the Italians I noted one good header that the keeper saved, and all the other heading chances were sent soaring over the bar. So the question then is asked, why are we using a system that employs 4 players ,2 wingers and 2 wing-backs simply to carry the ball upfield and cross to a lone striker surrounded by 3 or 4 defenders.. Makes you wonder does it not? Cheers jb.

I don’t expect the Matilda’s to go the full mourinho now , so will remain leaky at the back However I expect plenty of goals and a 4-3 win over Brazil

Did you see the Brazil - Jamaica game? I wouldn't be taking either of them lightly, especially if we are suffering in confidence.

I don't think the Matildas have ever dominated the top teams. My recall of our big games against top teams, namely the USA and Brazil last year, we relied heavily on our speedsters up front, Kerr and DeVana, usually having them chase a long ball in counter-attack with just a couple of defenders to beat, one on one, two or three. These have been typical Matilda goals in recent years. Otherwise, we've relied on poachers, a number of our other players are quite capable of scoring off the right ball. We've never dominated top teams like the US, the reverse in fact, they've dominated us, even in the game we drew and won. But we used our speed up front, and pay fair dues to Kerr and De Vana too, they have much more than speed, and it worked. I don't recall a single long ball to our forwards the other night. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought I saw a lot of play in the back five, then to the midfield or the opposition. We had a fair few crosses into the box, but that hasn't worked for the Matildas in the past, that I recall anyway. Sure the European teams have improved, in my view since the Euros in 2017 (when they got a lot of interest). But in that short time, personally I think we have added much more to the deficit than they have.

The women's game is faster and far more physical than it was just a couple of years ago. In previous years, Australia were the ones that used physicality to knock opponents off their game. We were also one of a handful of countries that took things seriously, mainly because we had a good coach for the times. Now the European teams have caught up and Australia, as usual, hasn't kept pace with the changes.

The Matilda’s peaked 7 or 8 months ago when they beat the USA. That’s when the World cup should have been played but now they are just a very ordinary team indeed. They played like their nickname “Matildas”….boring, slow and in need of a major injection of new blood. What’s happened to Caitlin Foord, she’s gone completely backwards. From what I saw the overall skill level is just not there. Sad but true.

Agreed and Staj was the manager then. Ante has an older squad with fit and 4 years younger Heyman, Sykes and Sun in at the last world cup. No depth now. When KK is out, midfield is stuffed. KK maybe past her best as well. Too many injuries and too many games without a break has left us where we are. We haven't played well since the Olympics. We beat the USA in the tournament of nations but 1 shot 1 goal v 30 shots 0 goal from the USA masked our true position. We played Chile under Staj at home. We couldn't get the ball! Problem ain't Ante or Staj.

The Matildas ony need to get a point out of the game against Brazil to almost guarantee advancement. Jamaica will present them with next to zero opposition. Let us all try to remember that the best four 3rd placings progress to the next round.

True. You could have written that comment four years ago and you’d have been correct mind you.