The Matildas have failed to advance beyond the quarter-final stage of the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup after an embarrassing loss against Korea Republic in Pune.
The Australian football world is simply in shock, with a team that appeared likely to advance all the way to the final now on a plane with their tails between their legs and embarrassed at a result that we saw play out on a hot and sticky Indian afternoon.
Alarming for the Australians was the vast amount of possession they enjoyed throughout much of the contest, and even more concerning was their inability to find the net and finish many of the clear opportunities created.
Sam Kerr struck the woodwork in the first half, missed two very realistic headed chances soon after and then muffed the clearest opportunity of the match after replacement Cortnee Vine centred a ball from the right and teed her up for what looked to be the winner.
Elsewhere, Hayley Raso went close at the death, the Australians flustered and desperate to extend their stay in India. Mary Fowler had a few moments where her execution at the top of the box let her down, while Caitlin Foord never really managed to manipulate herself into realistic goal-scoring positions despite running the left flank energetically for the entire contest.
As Ellie Carpenter attacked on the right and Steph Catley delivered many a precise ball for the central players to capitalise upon, chance after chance was wasted. Clare Wheeler was substituted early after a very ordinary display, Emily van Egmond had the odd good moment yet was never really able to construct the play in the manner in which she is often capable, and Vine offered potentially the best avenue to goal after her introduction to the match with around 30 minutes remaining on the clock.
It was a match that reeked of an Australian goal in the offing, yet Korea Republic held on bravely throughout. They missed a first-half penalty but created two clear-cut chances in the early moments of the second half that required Matilda goalkeeper Lydia Williams to produce some magic in order to prevent the Australians from going a goal down.
In the end it was Chelsea star Ji So-Yun who struck from distance in the 88th minute to bury the hopes of the Australians and send them to their worst ever result in Asian Cup play. Williams dived to her left, yet the strike was simply too good and her earlier efforts perhaps denied the Koreans an even larger winning margin.
The desperation and sense of impending defeat on Australian faces as the final seconds played out reflected a team that played with a sense of fear and trepidation rather than a confident assuredness that all great teams have. I have been very public in stating that the tried and true Matildas would not be good enough to win this Asian Cup, predicted a South Korean win and still feel that the squad needs significant invigoration and a steering away from the ‘Kerr or bust’ mentality that appears to have beset it in recent years.
Nothing stated above is pleasing to write. I too hoped for the Matildas to triumph, yet Tony Gustavsson’s conservatism is holding this team back, with the ageing players desperate to hang around for the celebration that will be the Women’s World Cup in 2023 actually hampering the development of the national squad.
It was a sad day for Australian football, yet one the Matildas will no doubt bounce back from. However, one also wonders whether the recent run of poor results under the manager had perhaps been a telling hint as to what to expect when the team ventured to India to win what was widely seen as their Asian Cup to lose.
Now the post-mortem begins, but how Tony Gustavsson can hold down a job in which he has failed dismally is well beyond the comprehension of this football writer.
Sunshine Tiger
Roar Rookie
Hi Stuart Thomas where are your expert comments regarding the display by the Graham Arnold led Socceroos? Or are expert comments limited to foreign coaches? And whilst we are at it Mike Tuckerman and Andy Harper seem to have gone to ground
Newie
Guest
"Kerr had a shocker" First dose of sanity I've seen on here. I know we're all bitterly disappointed but there's so much "I told you so" from armchair experts on here it's not funny. Exactly who would people bring through in a tournament squad to "bring on the next generation"? Fowler is young, so she's already there. Wheeler, Vine, Siemsen were in the squad, McNamara, Wheeler. People forget that Carpenter is young too, and no, we don't have a ready-made second best female footballer in the world waiting in the wings to replace Kerr. There is no simple answer. Something no-one has said out loud is that Kerr had a really poor game. At her level, we can and should expect better. Scuffed shots, straight misses. She had a bad game. With her usual performance, we're two up by half-time. The only comments on this thread that make much sense are that Gustavsson should have managed the squad and the tournament better so that our players weren't cooked by the end of 90 minutes in the quarter final. Carpenter and Fowler's blocking before the Korean goal were tired. And it was a worldy, too, which made a huge difference.
chris
Guest
Only 3 teams were going to win this tournament. Aus, Japan & Sth Korea. Unfortunately we came up against one of the faves in the quarter final. That's the way it goes and the luck of the draw wasn't in our favour. All this clamouring for sacking the coach from people who know 0 about coaching is laughable. TG has inherited a side that is in transition and it's not easy to make it happen quickly.
jbinnie
Guest
Buddy- It is now some 48 years since I attended my first coaching session in Australia. At that gathering it was explained to us that a thorough investigation into sports coaching had been undertaken in England with the emphasis on age and mental and physical development. Their findings? Kids from the age of 6-12 have 2 things they love about playing football (1) is scoring goals and (2) kicking a ball. It was from the findings into that factor that saw the idea of small sided games at training and ,for smaller teams and pitches for that age's fixtures in their competition. Yes that was in 1974,some 35 years before the "Dutch" Curriculum told us the same thing in 2009. Why did that knowledge lie dormant for all those years? Mis-management of that important development stage for young players joining the many other boo-boos that have been made over the years in our game. Not so cheery is it? jb.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I see her in Chelsea team and she is classy but surrounded by class too. It makes a world of difference.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
She is very good when surrounded by quality players. I’m not saying that they make her look better than she is, I’m saying her game is on a different level when playing at Chelsea. Their movement is so much better and passes regularly go into the danger zones and she is right there and firing but the service is far superior to anything she receives playing for her national side.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Late night thoughts. JB - most little boys interested in the game love scoring goals from a very young age.It may also be true of girls but I have no experience of coaching girls - only women. That being the case, it’s hard to believe that there are not more players the reason good at it as after all, coaching young children, the focus is usually very much about getting into the right areas and scoring goals. I suspect that the issue is fear of failure that sets in at an early age. If you don’t try, you can’t fail and you won’t get laughed at by your team mates. I lost count many years ago of the number of times a night I would hear “I can’t do that and I’m not going to try” or variations and I gave all the obvious responses concerning practice. These days the striker also has to be much more and is expected to work hard, track back and learn to pressure, cover and defend. My boyhood hero, Peter Osgood would turn in his grave at the very thought of having to do something more than be in the right place at the right time and take the accolades.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I watched the start of the second half again, she didnt put a pass wrong in the second half before she was subbed , got robbed once by a player coming from behind her.
The Phantom Commissioner
Roar Rookie
They seem to be the flag bearer of Australian football at the moment....and for the life of me i cannot fathom why.
DVDPop
Roar Rookie
Sth Korea has always been a tough opponent in Asia Cup. 2018 it ended 0-0. 2014 we beat them 2-1. Just got done with a sensational goal that the keeper couldn't see coming because the players in front of the shot parted late. The midfield needs more options as seen when Wheeler had to go off. I think she's addes something to the team since she's come in. Playing 4-1-4-1 and using Fowler, Symon as midfielders is a stop gap measure. Find a way to play through the middle instead of just relying on runs and crosses from the full backs. Carpenter had the clamps put on her a bit. Most of the players were fresh from being rested in the Thailand game except Van Egmond or the previous game against Philippines. Why does Foord play on the left side when she always cuts in on her right foot? Kerr had a shocker. In fact in the other games she could have scored more goals than she did. We're not clinical finishers. Find some midfield options to cover the deficiencies in defence and to provide better balls for Kerr and Fowler. Those two, along with Carpenter and Catley are the first picked. Then probably Van Egmond as she has good technique. People calling for Raso but she's as hit and miss as the rest and struggled to keep possession against an Indonesian team that was below A-League standard. Playing the kids against Indonesia wouldn't have taught them anything about international football.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
One of the bad things of not substituting the main players upon a big win is exposing the main players to risk of injury. Why would the main players not substituted after the first half in the match vs Indonesia? That was what I though in real time. Why this Tony is not fired?
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Agreed. Carl Robinson is free!
Marcel
Guest
Maybe its time to acknowledge that public enthusiasm for the Matilda's has long since "o'erleaped" their actual abilities.
Simoc
Guest
So simple to blame the coach Stu. The feeble do it upon every loss. But in reality the team is pretty ordinary. Kerr is a great scorer normally and Fowler, Carpenter and a couple of others look international standard. But not many if any of these players would get a start in the USA team, and less than half of them would make other top teams. Now they're like the mens team, very much second string in the world of football. Previously they had been among the best.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
6 wins in 20 games (with 10 losses) is not good enough for a top 10 team in the world. 47 scored with 38 conceded - take away the indonesia rout and its -18 goal difference. its simply not good enough for a side that should realistically be capable of winning things. its not too late to sack him before the world cup
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Staj?
Stuart Thomas
Expert
She is an excellent player but had a shocker last night. Still time for her but we all need to keep calling spades spades. TG pulled her pretty quickly. Panics on the ball far too often.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
You and me both Andy. Hate saying it, but we were both spot on. TG has nothing of a resume when it comes to leading a team on his own and the USWNT assistant gig is a damn side easier than taking on a developing Matildas squad.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
It was very poor and Korea probably deserved at least a second goal early in that second half.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Yep, however one would expect such quality of players to be able to handle that expectation. They didn't and I don't think the coach helped one little bit.