Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson has called for perspective after a bumper 2023 ended on the sour note of a lethargic 1-0 away loss to Canada in retiring legend Christine Sinclair’s final international match.
Four days after an experimental line-up was thumped 5-0, Quinn’s header in the 40th minute, after poor defending at a corner, brought a near-full strength Australia undone.
Ten of the 11 players started Australia’s rampant 4-0 Women’s World Cup win over Canada, with Teagan Micah replacing injured goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.
Sam Kerr (foot) and Arnold (arm) were ruled out of the friendlies, Australia’s final games before February’s Olympic qualifiers against Uzbekistan.
The Matildas had just six shots and none on target to Canada’s 12 (four on target) in a tired performance.
Stand-in skipper Steph Catley described the game as a “bit of a low” to end a year when Australia reached the semi-finals of their home World Cup.
“We need to put things in a little bit of perspective,” Gustavsson said.
“It’s the end of ’23. A massive year for us. Tremendous World Cup.
“… October qualifiers was fantastic – the way we played, the way the players played and then we said ‘let’s use a development window here.’
“We can’t get carried away because the development window (had) two losses.
“We have important qualifiers coming up in February and I think there’s teams right now that are hurting more than us like an England and Sweden that are missing out on (qualifying for) the Olympics.
“This was two friendlies and we need to put that in perspective.”
When asked if he would be at the helm in February, Gustavsson quipped: “Yeah, for sure. I mean – well, if I’m allowed to”, then stressed links to the Sweden men’s job were speculation.
“When you do good things like the Matildas have done, there’s always going to be speculations out there,” he said.
“And for me, I’m just focusing on the job I have.
“I’m focusing on the Matildas and this preparation window has been massive for us and I’ve had full commitment every single minute and so has the players and this was a very, very good window for us, and I learned a lot.”
Canada Soccer put on an emotional pre-game ceremony for Sinclair, who was retiring alongside long-time teammate Sophie Schmidt, in front of 48,112 fans at BC Place, temporarily renamed Christine Sinclair Place.
Sinclair, 40, scored a record 190 international goals, more than anyone in the women’s and men’s games, won an Olympic gold medal and appeared at six World Cups.
The Matildas started brightly but their early energy dropped off and they conceded when Sinclair flicked-on Jessie Fleming’s corner towards Kadeisha Buchanan.
The defender’s shot hit the bar, but Quinn reacted quickest to head home.
Canada had the ball in the back of the net again in the 43rd minute through Vanessa Gilles but she was ruled to have fouled Micah.
Sinclair departed the field for the final time in the 58th minute, handing the captain’s armband over to her replacement in Schmidt.
Tameka Yallop, Gustavsson’s only substitute used, spurned a golden opportunity to equalise in the 76th.
Mary Fowler slipped through Yallop, who took a lovely touch but couldn’t keep her shot down, capping off a difficult night.
Gustavsson said he had deliberately limited changes to replicate the conditions his starting line-up could have to deal with when playing tired in major tournaments.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The only thing you can conclude Gustavsson is looking to do is take his old players to Paris. The squad sizes for the Olympics is a lot smaller , Tokyo was expanded because of COVID and he took Kellod Knight. I dont understand why Australia would go to Canada for two matches on artificial turf which I assume is not going to feature at Paris. Liuk, Polkinghorne,Yallop are on their last legs they will be worse by the time of the Olympics . Sayer I dont know why she is the one new player that Gustavsson wants to try , Yallop being the one sub in the second game. Sophie Harding is 24 all of a sudden she has just come good and looks impressive, tall has decent pace. Scored a great header against the Mariners, good cross as well, caused the second goal by leaping with Dumont then showed pace and a good shot for the third.
NickA
Roar Rookie
I'm not concerned with the scorelines so much - but bothers me is his lack of substitutions. Same in the WC - we barely used subs. But then he throws in an entire team of subs in Canada game 1. It just doesn't really look like he trusts his second string 11 - and he probably does even less so now they have been smacked 5 0?
Waz
Roar Rookie
Gustavsson is probably right in many ways, but he’s never been a convincing coach when he talks about his plans and the progress made. There’s also question marks over how much of the success is down to him and his decisions - leading in to the WC the same questions asked now were being asked then. So is he the right Coach? It’s impossible to defend his approach on these two games - too many changes/too few subs in the 0-5 thumping; not enough changes or subs in yesterday’s tight loss. What has been learned? It’s all a very familiar story.
Saffi
Roar Rookie
So we go from game one with eleven players who have never played together, two first timers and six substitutions ( this was for player development,to trial a new system and to blood new players) and lose 5-0! Then to game two with a starting eleven with ten replacement starters and ONE substitution! We lose 1-0. WTF! Any Half baked coach could have managed these set ups and outcomes. Sack Gustavsson. Give us time to find a suitable replacement for the Olympics.