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Opinion
Can Australia win a football World Cup? The idea seemed absurd less than six months ago, but a 1-0 win over heavyweights France means the Matildas are now bursting with confidence.
After almost three years of fretting over just about every aspect of Tony Gustavsson’s regime – from tactics to team selection to the contents of his whiteboard – suddenly the most pressing question ahead of Australia’s World Cup opener against the Republic of Ireland in Sydney is whether the Matildas can withstand the pressure of competing on home soil.
That’s because their 1-0 win over France in front of more than 50,000 fans at Docklands on Friday night will have done nothing to dampen expectations heading into their tournament opener on Thursday night.
Mary Fowler’s neatly-taken winner was just about the least Australia deserved – even if Les Bleues perhaps enjoyed the better of proceedings in front of a parochial Melbourne crowd – with a makeshift central defensive pairing of Clare Hunt and an underdone Alanna Kennedy holding firm in front of Mackenzie Arnold in goal.
Hunt was winning just her sixth cap for Australia when she lined up against the star-studded French outfit, but having kept veteran striker Eugénie Le Sommer quiet all night, the Western Sydney Wanderers defender looks a shoo-in to start against the Irish next week.
And the Aussies will go into the first game of the World Cup feeling like they can beat practically anyone after following up that 2-0 win over England with a similarly eye-catching result against the French.
Mary Fowler celebrates scoring a goal. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
The question now is whether they can handle the pressure of playing in front of the biggest crowds they’ve ever experienced.
Around 80,000 fans are expected to flock to Homebush for Australia’s opening game against the Republic of Ireland and based on what they’ve seen in the build-up, they’ll be expecting to head home with three points in the bag.
That’s hardly beyond the realms of possibility given their current form, and what should please Matildas fans most is that they’ve kept clean sheets in four of their six fixtures this year.
They also saw off the French despite limited involvement from captain Sam Kerr.
The Chelsea striker managed to get in behind the French defence on a handful of occasions on Friday night, but frustratingly for the Matildas, Kerr just couldn’t find the decisive ball required to break open the deadlock.
Yet Gustavsson clearly has an ace up his sleeve in the form of Mary Fowler, with the 20-year-old – who could have represented the Republic of Ireland given her father Kelvin hails from just outside Dublin – offering the Matildas a genuine X-factor heading into the tournament.
Is everything coming together at just the right time? For months Gustavsson has told critics to judge him on tournament results – and it’s now or never for a team that has the hopes of a nation pinned on them.
Which makes Thursday night’s encounter with the Irish a fascinating affair for a side that hasn’t always played its best football when the pressure is on.
The Irish will go into Thursday showdown somewhat underdone, after their friendly with Colombia in Brisbane on Friday night was abandoned after just 20 minutes owing to the South Americans’ overly physical play.
Midfielder Denise O’Sullivan was clattered into by Colombian midfielder Lorena Bedoya – who looked suspiciously like she raised an elbow to O’Sullivan’s throat – with the Irish choosing to abandon the fixture after stating they feared for their safety.
All of that should play into Australia’s hands come Thursday, but they’ll need to lean into the big-match experience of the likes of Steph Catley, Katrina Gorry and Caitlin Foord to help settle the nerves when the run out in front a sold-out Homebush crowd.
The World Cup is finally here.
And after years of waking up in the middle of the night just to feel like we’re part of the football world, isn’t it nice to be at the centre of it?