Well Life, Kellie Underwood has been a long standing soccer supporter. When nobody was telecasting the A League years ago, the ABC regularly broadcast Womens A League soccer with Kellie as one of the commentators. Also, offsiders has basically focused on the World Cup for 3 weeks now. Good on them. But , on a more positive note, I want most of the $200m from the Feds for female soccer . Show us the money! In regards netball, I think it’s inevitable decline is not due to soccer but AFLW and womens rugby League growth. There have been long standing alliances between footy teams and netball and it’s this transition to womens footy that will reduce interest in netball.
Finally, if Tony Gustavsson were to leave now I would not worry. I think the Matilda’s may be better off going to the Olympics with a new, better fitting coach.

I agree with Chris, Tony lost his number one player for most of the tournament, and we still got to the SF. My criticism is that lack of substitutes and he picked unfit squad players which left him with poor choices when needed. Gus changed players at a whim, remember Aloisi, Cahill were early subs as soon as we went down. Gus knew he had a full squad to use as needed while Tony panicked and just tried to keep the same group. Against England many of our key players lost puff, Foord, Gorry, Carpenter, Raso, Catley all faded out of the game by the 70th minute. Pity! However, if we get third I’ll forgive even this criticism.

Nice summary Texi.
I wanted to comment about Stephs request for the crowds to keep coming to the games.
Can I please say a huge congratulations to the Australian people. I’m an avid soccer follower and I knew this Cup would be big but NEVER invisaged sold out stadiums at nearly every Australian ground. This has been the best run, most enthusiastic, most entertaining and successful Womens World Cup ever. Well done to the organisers and staff for giving me such an wonderful month. The Matilda’s have provided the extra excitement but of course I hope it’s leading to unbound joy and the Cup itself.

Good research Stuart. My view, from a test sample of 30 odd friends and family is that the A Leage/Socceroos/Matilda’s regular supporters haven’t even attended many games. I was at the Colombian/Jamaica game last night. .I’d guarantee 95% of those boisterous fans have never attended an A League game. Our group of ten had 3 regular attendees. This legacy is a long term issue, as Johnston has said, we need to keep pushing the profile, keeP the juniors playing and increase the advertising of the game.

I have watched nearly every Matilda’s game since Gustavsson took over, when Germany thrashed us 5-2. Can the Matilda’s defeat Canada? Of course they can. We have played some fantastic team football in the last 12 months, sometimes without Kerr up front. My concern is that Tony has lost his nerve and is not willing to risk some of those younger stars (Grant, Chidiac) because he has injury problems.
Go Matilda’s, I’ve seen you play some fantastic football, it’s now time to bring out your best.

Great summary David, you could nearly call the set pieces rhythmic crosses, they were so similar. Terrible defence in all three goals. We had the game under control until we scored then some of our players just went nuts. Foord gets a silly yellow for a terrible tackle in their half. Ellie just wanders around without watching her opponent. Can we beat Canada? Yes. However, We are just going to have to risk players , Polks in for Kennedy. Our best recent defence was without Kennedy. Charlie Grant must start. She was a star in our last six internationals. Unless we are leading, Kerr will play with 30 mins to go. Otherwise Sam will not play a minute of this home World Cup. Fowler/Chidiac for Van Egmond.

Thanks Cristo, I attended the Canada v Nigeria game (22k attendees) and it was a hoot. I’ve watched heaps of games on Optus. It has, for the vast majority of the time been great to watch and marvel at the skills of the world’s female football players. Will it supercharge the game? Who knows? However, I’m just loving this once in a lifetime opportunity t see such a huge football tournament.

I was At the game last night with family including granddaughter. We were near the corner post where the goal was scored, second level. The cheer squad was about 50 metres away below. No real chanting or cheering for 85%of the game. Not sure if loudhailers are banned but the cheer squad needed it plus more crowd participation. I know it’s a vast footy field but Foord was right, there was NO r crowd passion or support for the home team. I could hear the players calling to each other when they were 80 metres away, it was that quiet. Let’s hope this improves for the WC.

In fact, FIFA has more nations competing than registered with the UN because nations like Guam are US protectorates but ( proudly) compete as Guam during World Cup qualifiers. So, yes, there are more nations competing to get to these finals.

I agree with you Roberto. A Soccer stadium in Sydney or Canberra for national games ( male/ female junior and senior), A League clubs, Grand Finals, training and exhibition matches is a great idea. The APLs position on a single location for GFs could then be justified.
I used to think spending $500m on a soccer stadium was being greedy and excessive but after seeing Albo put in $300m for a Tassie AFL team, well, show me the money, we deserve it!
Stuart is also correct about this lost week , what a stupid situation and loss of momentum.
Good on CCM by the way. An outstanding season and played with an exciting style of football.

Valid comments Adriandon. Victory must do better during this recruitment period and next years comp.

However, I need to respond to the claim that in 2017, when they were loooking for new clubs, that a south east/ Dandenong team was a furphy. I grew up in Dandenong and it’s still a huge, new migrant centre. There are heaps of Football teams/ players in that catchment. There are well over a million people within a ten kilometre radius. A Trainstation would have been a short walk to a new stadium. Yes, there was no serious money for a stadium in the bid, but the state Government just needed such an excuse to spend and create a second major hub, outside of the CBD. It still does! The area is a distinct suburb, 35 kms from the AAMI but easy to reach by road/train. It was a disgraceful job by Gallop and co, who weren’t looking for a strong and passionate rivalry but some bullshit developers stadium out west.
5 years later and still no WU stadium and Melbourne City have set up its main training centre not far from Dandenong. Hmmmmm, and we fans keep arguing amongst ourselves why the fan interaction has declined.

Regarding last nights final, I thought the game was excellent. Apparently 27,400 attended, which created a great atmosphere. Yes, The APL owners have been terrible for growing the A League. When Steven Lowy commented on transferring the ownership from the FAA to the APL he said “be careful what you wish for “ and he was right. Now we are stuck with a number of floundering, inexperienced, unimaginative rich dudes who really have dropped the ball (reminds me of the old NSL days really). The owners have to do better or their investments will be down the gurgler inno time.

However, boycotting A League games is just silly. You don’t need to add to the total lack of interest by 95% of the population and 95% of the media. Those folk’s already don’t give a damn about our A League. Some of those people look up the EPL or Serie A scores on a Sunday morning but wouldn’t even know who played in the A League last night. Having supporters like us banning attending finals games is just another free kick to the AFL and NRL and confirms their views that “soccer” is just a peripheral sport supported by nobody.

I’m really looking forward to watching the finals. Love seeing CCM, Melbourne City and Adelaide play. Can’t see how Melb. City can lose the GF with four Socceroos but I’m hoping CCM cause an upset. In regards the others….. I think WSW has improved but I really don’t like Rudan. As for the others…. I’m a Victory member and went last night to watch a lethargic and uncoordinated Victory lose to an average Roar outfit. What to do? Well, we’ve finished as one of the bottom two sides 3times in the last four years! Can we just digest that again… Victory ( the team with the highest paid membership in the A League, by far) has finished in the bottom two for the 3rd time in four years! If people worry about crowd numbers, interest in the A league and viewer numbers on pay TV ,then we need a successful, competitive and combative Victory. So, what to do. Sack the ten least effective players ( including Brillianti, Marchan, Timotheou, Chapman, Ikonamidis, Nani, Kamau, ) . Then recruit magnificent players who can control the midfield and score goals. Im not kidding, Please please , let us members get back to watching exciting, coordinated and high scoring Victory. If that means letting Popovic go (I supported his appointment) then so be it, but let’s face it, he needs to get this ultra right if he’s to continue.

I’ve not been a huge McLaren fan , but hell, what a sensational effort to bag a record number of goals. He’s been amazing. I agree that the Perth v Adelaide game was fantastic, Nistroy is an amazing talent, not sure how we keep that level of passion, energy and enthusiasm going in Adelaide? CCM, Melbourne City, Perth and Adelaide are genuinely playing exciting and forward soccer. Love the season and hopefully we get over the mess of the GF decision and Victory pitch invasion.

Great summary AGO. I would add a few other highlights:
Mackenzie Arnold has been fantastic in goal. She has the confidence and aggression that we need in the last line.
Hunt worked tremendously with Polks. Hunt is far more stable in defence than Alana Kennedy.
Gorry was pushed/Shoved/bullied off the ball against Scotland. She learnt from that experience and fought hard for every ball (and won) against England.
Overall, a great team effort with lots of upsides for the World Cup to come.

I thought Fowler was very average (again). We can’t have her as a starter in the side. Scotland stayed tight on Gorry , which stopped her distribution and creativity in the centre. This then tired her out and she was ineffective in the last 15 mins. Gorry is so important that stopping her will stuff up our chances. We definitely miss Kerr and Foord(who wouldn’t if their available for your team) and Crummer is NOT an alternative. Try McNamara, Chidiac and Kyah Simon.
Last nights effort left me very worried about the game v England. While I’m at it, why the hell are we playing France a week before the WC at home! Imagine what happens to morale if we lose to France a week out from the WC. Even a win wouldn’t have added much to the ego that a nice thrashing v a lesser team. I just think we are heading backwards again.

I attended the game and I offer the following comments:
The Marvel stadium is a footy ground so the atmosphere will be poor, regardless of the size of the crowd.
The ref was terrible (examples galore, such as the penalty not given for McGree and the throw in from the defensive corner post, then taken by us 35 metres up the ground! Etc etc).
In regards the players, Arnold treated the Friday game as the “welcome home, thank-you for the WC “ game. Last night was instead the start of our refresh and prepare for the Asian cup phase. Try new players. In that regard, while I’m a fan of Thomas Deng, I thought he had a terrible game and last night may be his final Socceroos game. Same for Devlin.
However, great start for Bos, Gauci and O’Neill.
Ecuador are a quality team so I think overall, it was an excellent learning experience for the Socceroos.

Great piece Jonah. Accentuate the positives and eliminate the negatives.

I think the A League is the only professional Football competition we will have operating for the foreseeable future. The NSD second division was requested by supporters of the previous leagues and by local clubs. It’s a response that the FA should be complemented for. I encourage promotion/ relegation based on the NSD clubs being professional/ financial and supported. In that regard, there should be a simple playoff model to decide which NSD team plays for an A League spot. Given the millions$ that A League club owners have already paid there has to be a cost to enter the promotion playoff. As It costs millions$ to run an A League club, and to confirm the clubs bonafides, at the start of the NSD finals, clubs must prove that they have at least $8m available in the bank if they are successful. If the A League bottom team drops out, those owners are compensated at least $4m to leave. The successful promoted NSD (now ALeague) team uses the $4+ in the bank to start recruiting and building its club. Newly promoted or demoted can’t go back down/straight up for two seasons.

As a long time Victory member, I hate hate SFC but begrudgingly admire how they keep bouncing back and winning. Unlike my club, that since Muscats departure has been unable to rebuild a strong, competitive team, Sydney just picks the right imports and younger local players. I wish it were different but Sydney has definitely overtaken Victories claim as the biggest supporter club in Australia.

Nice summary David. I was at the Victory game and that missile by Nestory was amazing. The A League is great to watch.

At the risk of harping on……… MacArthur and Western United we’re granted their licenses on lies. Kick them out. Canberra and Wollongong are in. Regarding attendances, I watched four games including my Victory and I agree , the quality of most of the games is very good but people aren’t invested (unlike all the good writers and commentators on this site). We need headlines, that’s the only way you get on the Age, Guardian or Seven news sites. Poppa pushing over Vidosics chair at half time on Saturday. Harry Soutter saying he wants to play in the A League sooner rather than later. Canberra join A League in 23/24 season with huge Serie A signing. I know these are crazy headlines but it’s a circuit breaker to capture eyes and ears. I’m one of eight seated members at Victory. Even though they’ve paid the bucks, I have not had more than 4 friends/family join me at a Victory game for the whole season (usually it’s one or two). Will most turn up this Saturday, I’m pushing them but after yesterday’s result they’ve started backing off. I want a headline leading to this weekend’s game. Go Victory ????

What a tremendous story jb. Loved reading it.

Mike, given the largest NPL clubs are historically ethnically based, South Melbourne will be a viable force with active supporters (after all Melbourne is supposed to be the 3rd largest Greek city in the world). However, aside from the Croatian based clubs who else can bring anywhere near a regular crowd of 4,000. I come from an Italian background. Soccer provided a meeting point and focus for recent immigrants.
I attended Many Juventus games with 4.000 people but those days are long gone. The largest ethnic groups coming to Australia now are Chinese, Indian and Filipinos and they are not soccer lovers. Even AFL would struggle with a second division of Dandenong, Liverpool and west Adelaide. Look, I’m not saying stop this, but let’s be realistic, the A League first div. is all we have to rely on for a full time , professional Australian football league. We need to keep focused on that.

As you said Stuart, the World Cup will be a huge success with big attendances. I’ve got dozens of people ready to attend, even having missed Matilda’s tickets. Unfortunately, channel 7 as a broadcaster is a disaster. It’s the AFL channel and it will sink the WC coverage. In regards legacies, FA should be demanding millions $ in infrastructure improvements and support for women’s soccer. anything less will be a lost opportunity and a shambles .