On the night, in front of a home crowd, the Matildas were: out-thought, out-passed, out-run, out-pressed, out-enthused.
It was quite clear who wanted to win the game more, and who ran out the game better, which was impressive given China's constrained training opportunities.
It was a good thing that China's could not shoot straight and that the Matilda's last ditch defence was reasonably effective. Could not help but get the feeling that the Matilda's heads were not in the game, which was pretty silly given China's ability.
The performance presents an interesting coaching challenge, other sides will note the Matilda's inability to break-down China's defence and a hesitancy with the ball. At times the Matilda's looked substantially slower than their opponents.
The Matildas appear to be one of those teams that enter a dangerous comfort zone after playing weaker opposition. Post match player comments avoided some of the realities of the performance.
China's performance deserved the win, their front-line should have put the game away.
Taken in isolation this game does not bode well for the chances at the Olympics of the Matilda's.
The amount of travel required of some of the players over the next two weeks (to Europe and back again) is a real worry and an invitation for injury and tiredness.
jupiter53
Roar Pro
Yep, spectacularly calm and intelligent, but it was Kyah Simon, not Mary Fowler
Onside
Guest
How about the cool headed little layoff under pressure by Mary Fowler (#17) to Van Egmond that created the opportunity.
SweatyProp
Roar Rookie
On the night, in front of a home crowd, the Matildas were: out-thought, out-passed, out-run, out-pressed, out-enthused. It was quite clear who wanted to win the game more, and who ran out the game better, which was impressive given China's constrained training opportunities. It was a good thing that China's could not shoot straight and that the Matilda's last ditch defence was reasonably effective. Could not help but get the feeling that the Matilda's heads were not in the game, which was pretty silly given China's ability. The performance presents an interesting coaching challenge, other sides will note the Matilda's inability to break-down China's defence and a hesitancy with the ball. At times the Matilda's looked substantially slower than their opponents. The Matildas appear to be one of those teams that enter a dangerous comfort zone after playing weaker opposition. Post match player comments avoided some of the realities of the performance. China's performance deserved the win, their front-line should have put the game away. Taken in isolation this game does not bode well for the chances at the Olympics of the Matilda's. The amount of travel required of some of the players over the next two weeks (to Europe and back again) is a real worry and an invitation for injury and tiredness.