It is obvious to everyone invested in the Matildas that the team has regressed since the controversial departure of Alen Stajcic in 2019.
Citing toxicity of culture and other reasons that now appear vacuous, Football Australia decided to part ways with a coach that, at the time, had Australia sitting as high as seventh in the world rankings and had obviously narrowed the gap between them and the powerful United States women’s national team.
Stajcic compiled a 55.56 winning percentage whilst at the helm, developed a respected playing style based on his proven and tactically informed knowledge of the game and positioned the team well for the four-year cycle that would proceed the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
History tells us that Stajcic was replaced shortly before the 2019 event, Ante Milicic led the team to France and the solid foundations brought knockout-stage qualification before the Matildas fell to Norway on penalties in the Round of 16.
The looks on the players’ faces in the immediate moments following that loss said everything about the opportunity lost and the belief in the squad that their World Cup path was to have a further step or two in it before finally coming to an end.
Contrastingly, the expressions on the faces of the players who trudged off the pitch in embarrassment at the Nuevo Colombino Stadium on Sunday morning held no conviction, belief or fortitude.
Spain cut the Matildas to shreds in a second-half onslaught that perhaps even they could not have predicted; thinking that their class would eventually tell but also that the fight in the Australian challenge would last a little longer than it did.
Australian manager Tony Gustavsson was on the sideline, enthusiastically waving and shouting as he is wont to do, yet the Swede must be held accountable for sending a makeshift and unprepared group of women into battle.
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The opportunities to represent in national colours are few and far between, and with the choices Gustavsson made, he in fact cheapened the wearing of them by selecting numerous players who are in no way, shape or form deserving of Matildas play at this stage.
Worse still, the nonsense he sprouted in the post-game analysis and reflection in regards to “long-term” plans and having a “player-centric approach” rather than playing the best group of Matildas he could muster was laughable.
Without Sam Kerr, Steph Catley, Alanna Kennedy, Hayley Raso, Caitlin Foord, Kyah Simon, Mary Fowler or the injured Ellie Carpenter, the Aussies were trounced, and the more second-half substitutions that were made, the more the sheer inability of many players to compete at Spain’s level was exposed.
Essentially there were four regular Matildas who started the match, with Emily van Egmond, Katrina Gorry, Tameka Yallop and Clare Polkinghorne somewhat thrown to the wolves by Gustavsson by being surrounded by mostly inexperienced and unproven players at international level.
With an increasingly concerning record with the national team that now stands at eight wins and four draws across 23 matches and consistently bad losses against top-class European opposition, the coach did all he could to spin the result.
He cited the experimental approach taken in the second half and spoke of the need to invest further in the women’s game in order to achieve sustained success after the World Cup, and he sidestepped personal responsibility by stating categorically that it is “not about me”.
I am sorry, Tony, but it is about you, and had a Socceroos manager compiled a similar 23-game record with a few embarrassing drubbings along the way, I’d guess that the FA door may well be hitting him in the backside right now, particularly if his squad was supposedly 12th in the world rankings.
In their current state the Matildas are not the 12th best women’s football team in the world. Their manager has potentially damaged psyches and confidence with his bizarre approach to the clash with Spain, and FA’s appointment of him now seems a very poor one.
Fans have become tired of the talk, sideline gesticulations and empty rhetoric that presents a picture we can all see is far from accurate. Wednesday morning’s match-up with Portugal could be his final game in charge of the Matildas should something similar occur despite the fact that Portugal are not near the class of the Spanish.
Now is not the time for experimentation.
As I have written extensively throughout Gustavsson’s reign, identifying the next wave of Matildas was one of his most crucial tasks, and in that, as we literally count down the days to a World Cup on home soil, he has failed.
Spinning it any other way disrespects the players, Football Australia and the fans.
Frank Giachin
Guest
I am not a coach's A***hole, but this is what I saw; there were 2 players in the backline that are 2-3 metres too slow over 20-30 metres. In the Spain game, the biggest strongest forward (I don't want to name her) came on in the second half and never ever ran faster than a canter. She made 1 successful interception. Yet she made it to the Portugal game (and scored a goal - so what) and we didn't sight Galabadaarachchi. A player that is fast, she fights for the ball, runs all day and has incredible South American type skills. She qualifies to play for Argentina and Italy and we left her out of the last 2 games. WHY WHY WHY ?
stu
Guest
Stuart....your comment here I think falls under that 'all eggs in one basket' for the success of the womens code. Perhaps the narrative is sending the wrong message again to the country. The highs and lows are too great and realistic expectations and opinions need to be out in the public domain to rid us of the next 'false hope'.
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
I’m not taking the moral high ground, if anything I’m the opposite, i believe sports and politics really shouldn’t mix, and people trying to bring political agendas in to this arguement should really avoid it because the hypocracies are astounding. All I’m saying is you can’t make the US statement without opening a big can of worms.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Jebus, that is terrifying.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
Huddo, are you serious. Where’s your rainbow flag emoji. We play China, in the World Cup qualifiers and they harvest organs from people they don’t like, enslave people they don’t like yet we keep,playing them. If your going take the moral high ground it should be applied equally
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
What pathway, anyone who watched Macarthur matches, wouldnt hire him. The only work he will get in Croatia is he wants to milk goats and sheep.
Fly
Guest
Sermanni capped 51 players in his last stint as coach and 14 of them form the basis of our top squad now. If you read through the team lists during that time you see on a regular basis young players brought into his squad, getting capped as late replacements, being given more time and eventually if good enough becoming starters. Sermanni did this even though he had a strong squad. Young players learnt the international game amongst seasoned team mates. Stajcic inherited this strong squad with a number of these younger players having progressed to starters. The results of this long term squad preparation with Stajcic's coaching saw the Matildas start moving up through the ranking and after a particularly fruitful year they became world #4 in the rankings for a short time. By the time Stajcic was replaced the Matildas had regressed to #6 and performances had become questionable. Instead of continuing on with Sermanni's squad development strategy Stajcic honed his top squad and only handed out 12 caps in nearly 4 years. 5 of those players are in our top squad now but only 2 of them are starters. Following on from Stajcic both Milicic and Gustavsson have searched extensively for talented players. Unfortunately, with time short to find and develop properly our squad is a mix of seasoned professionals, mature players who didn't really make the grade and virtually untried young players. It might take another 5 to 10 years to get back to the quality squad that got us to #4.
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
Both games were more or less a waste of opportunity. Wait until our regulars are on the park. Only then will we know where we are at.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
What is the whole programme in Australia? Stajcic was the start of the problem, Sermanni was hardly a great coach but he was the one that brought in the new blood. If he hadn't brought in players like Kerr into the fold early, they could have just fallen by the wayside. How many of the current players were brought into the teams as teens under Sermanni.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
Punter Well we need to the same then, plenty of money coming from Silver lake and Paramount. Where is it going. Time to invest like the Europeans because I won’t follow a code that keeps loosing at international level.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
My comments on the Matildas v Portugal game reflect the continued poor performance of the team in a technical tactical sense. How can these so called athletes make it to the national team when they can’t pass a football (and this applies to many in the senior squad as well). Portugal could easily have won this game 5 zip. I asked my self how many of these girls have the athleticism to compete in the AFLW, and I don’t see many. It’s developing into a car crash and it’s time for the FFA to step in.
Davrob
Guest
Polkinghorne’s lack of pace and poor passing game mean we always struggle at the back. Also think Van Egmond does not work hard enough in defence
Paul Denton
Guest
The sad part is that it is not the Matilda's that are the problem, it is the whole programme in Australia which has lost its way with an overarching inability to know how to either identify talent or develop it once they have. At some point in 2018 or 2017 I heard Alen Stajcic speak and his greatest concern beyond 2023 was the next crop of talent because he struggled to understand the system that was supposed to be feeding his squad. The FSA has well and truly got what it deserves and it is those who have employed Gustavsson that must be held to account - not he or the players.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Overall Australia was very lucky not to lose 4-1..the shooting by Portugal was abyssmal whereas Spain was near perfect in the second half. The commentaters were praising Portugal and wondering why they werent considered more for the Euros. On this performance it was plain to see why. In the first 30 mins they were gifted a lot of possession (The Matildas gave away virtually every early possession ) but failed to take any advantage of it. Then basically when Australia started to maintain possession better Portugal fell off until in the second half Australia was in control of the play. I also wonder about the sub of Siemsen, I thought she was playing well, controlling possession & making herself available for attacking raids ps Im actually not a big fan of her in Sydney Fc tho I get why she’s played, I would prefer the chilean girl who offers much much more. Maybe the coach was happy with what he saw so decided to try someone else? And why was Vine not introduced when Australia was getting many breakaways? It seemed well suited to her style of play.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Grant was at right back somehow I switched it to left back in the middle of the post. So she is a good attacking right back not left back
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Well as we dont seem to be getting any Portugal article , it was very interesting watching the Portugal match. This match was held in quite chilly conditions on a good pitch so north west sea breeze maybe. To me it seems the biggest issue in the Spain match must have been in very hot conditions, because the Matildas looked a lot more lively in the match totally different. They also seemed to be let off the leash in terms of the ridiculous system and positioning they had in the Spain match. The Portuguese the first 30 minutes they dominated with a very physical press, as soon as an Australian got the ball they had Portuguese players closing them down at speed. They were lucky to survive this opening stanza the turnovers led to a lot of opportunities for Portugal but they stuffed them up. Nevin had a bad period at left back. Grant was at center back . Yallop at right back. They switched to Nevin at center back , Yallop on the left and Grant on the right. Glienik being in England found the conditions a lot more to her liking and had a good game in attack though I thought the fullback on her side was weak. Pressing wise, her and Crummer are way off the standard the Portuguese players set. Van Egmond her press is usually a slow jog, and as usual she is the player that looks totally out of place in any international and in any w-league match as well when it comes to pressing. On the positives Grant did the job when switched to left back applying a physical press to the Portuguese, and also showing good speed and purpose in attack in the second half, Yallop while she was better in defence this match showed little as fullback going forward. Siemsen at least showed some pace and some pressing but only played in the first half. Ibini replaced Siemsen and like the others she looked a lot more lively in these conditions though she fell away in the last part of the half. Gorrie and Wheeler really spread their wings in the second half, they covered heaps of ground and finished the 90 minutes running hard unlike the compatriots. The move for the goal was excellent Gorrie to Crummer who then turned and played the ball wide to Glienik who put it across goal to Ibini. Portugal made 4 subs in the second half , 2 after the goal, so they had 4 fresh players to Australias Ibini who was tired anyway in the last part of the game. The second sub for Australia was absurd, taking off Crummer and put Sayer the midfielder on as striker who seemed confused. It would have better if he moved the tired Glienik or Ibini to striker as they werent tracking anyone late or pressing. This could have been an easy win but Nevin blew a pass late while they were dominating and Portugal scored albeit with a super clear off side. Nevin was dodgy in defence all night, alongside a slow Polkinghorne who was always found out for pace. Nevin got a yellow in the first, the she did the tackle where Grant got a yellow in her place, then she grabbed a player running onto a ball that went into the goal keepers arms and could have got a yellow for that. At least we know Gori and Wheeler is she has the leash taken off her can really cover a lot of ground, Grant is also a good attacking left back. Apart from those three the rest of the players were poor.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"a country where homosexuality is illegal and may be punished by stoning" - They're working on that. A Christian pastor in Texas went to a city council meeting that was taking public feedback on a pride parade and said that gays should be executed, citing passages from the bible. His supporters behind him in the room agreed, saying amen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX5yv6EE-2s - There was also another recent example, where pro-Trump Republican candidate Pastor Mark Burns called for the killing of the parents of LGBT kids, as well as for the arrest and execution of those who advocate LGBTQ+ rights and for the protection of trans children. He said all this on a live TV interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okW-jVfJKJM - Then you have pastor Greg Locke, who went to a completely different level. Not against sexual minorities, but against democrats. He even threatened to overthrow the government and "take it by force" because: "That's what the bible says!". Quoting what he says doesn't get the full impact across. Just skip ahead to the 5m40s mark on the video below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx8tsompfiM - America is highly unstable.
Punter
Roar Rookie
No love for this coach whatsoever. However, Australia's decline in world football has more to do with the rest of the world, especially the Europeans, pumping lots of money into women's football, the likes of England, Spain, France, Holland, Sweden. The standard in the last few years has really really shot up while we went backwards under this coach.
Hopper
Roar Rookie
It would be nice to know what the senior players think about Tony. They have had plenty of say previously about coaches that they felt didn't quite cut the mustard.
At work
Roar Rookie
It's been a complete disaster since Tony Gustavsson took over. The team are bereft of structure and we've been milking goals since he took the reins. If the money was there I'd suggest FA sack him and bring in somebody else, but that should've been done after the Olympics. Unfortunately our position masked over how useless we were on the actual park.