Olympic Setback: No matter what people thought would happen in the Matildas’ first game of the Olympic women’s football event, against Germany, that didn’t happen.
The 2016 Olympic champions won 3-0 thanks to goals from Marina Hegering, Lea Schüller, and Jule Brand. It was a great start to their event.
For the Matildas, it was a terrible start. For people back home, it was a tough watch in the middle of the night, and captain Steph Catley called it a wake-up call.
Catley and Caitlin Foord were both deemed healthy enough to start after being shut out of the Matildas’ final warmup game against Canada because of injuries. This made everyone feel good. Even though Tameka Yallop was ruled out and Sharn Freier came in for her in the 18th, there didn’t seem to be any major problems with the team’s players.
After that, though, the Matildas played one of their worst important games under Tony Gustavsson. It was also strange how un-Matildas it was, both when it was attacking and when it was defending.
The Matildas’ defence stocks have changed a lot under Gustavsson. This is one of the best changes. Many people praise assistant coach Jens Fjellstrom for his work in this area of the field.
Under his direction, the Australians have been able to stop making silly mistakes on defence. Set-piece defence, learning not to panic, and making the connections between the back four better have all been given a lot of attention. And over the last three and a half years, it had been clear.
The team’s usual strong defence, on the other hand, looked like it had been lost on the charter trip from their training camp in Marbella to Marseille.
Hegering and Schüller both scored with free headers from Giulia Gwinn corners.
Hegering sneaked in between Ellie Carpenter and Alanna Kennedy at the far post, while Schüller was left alone and unchecked.
If Alexandra Popp hadn’t been offside, Germany could have had three easy goals through runs in.
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It was quickly turned into dozens of jokes using Sam Kerr’s comment about the USWNT’s performance in defending set pieces: “Do youse not work on that?” This quote comes from the Netflix documentary about the team’s 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
In the end, the first two goals were clear mistakes that the Matildas will be very embarrassed about. If those were the only things they gave up, maybe the aftermath wouldn’t hurt as much.
But Germany’s third goal came from a team move that the Matildas were behind the whole time. Brand scored by tapping the ball into the net. The people in yellow looked like dancers who didn’t know the steps but were trying their best not to look weird.
After the game, of course, people talked about how those mistakes need to be fixed quickly. But mistakes on defence aren’t the only thing that needs to be fixed before the game against Zambia on Monday (AEST).
Australia also had trouble up front. This seemed more possible than the defensive mistakes, but it was still disappointing to see.
Gustavsson picked Cortnee Vine to be the No. 9. It was a choice that put Mary Fowler first as a free-roaming No. 10 while Foord played on the left to work with Catley, another Arsenal player, and Gustavsson often uses this link.
But Vine as the centre striker looked and felt like he had never played that position before. Most people thought Michelle Heyman should play in the Matildas’ second game because she can’t play back-to-back 90-minute games. But Vine as the next woman to play in that centre position up top wasn’t right either.
On top of that, Catley and Foord didn’t make the most of their good moments, and Fowler couldn’t change the game the way she, Gustavsson, and the country wanted or needed her to.
It makes me wonder if Gustavsson needs to change the way he attacks. Should Fowler be put out wide, where she did well for her club team? Does moving Foord to the middle solve the problem with No. 9? Is it worth using the Fowler and Emily van Egmond double false nine that worked well in the few World Cup games that were played? Would that help with the way the centre and forward line don’t seem to belong together in this game?
These are the things Gustavsson and his team will think about as they rest up and then turn their attention right away to Zambia in Nice. The Matildas need to make a lot of changes very quickly if they want to keep their medal hopes alive.
