The Matildas’ seven-game winning streak is over after a 46th-minute strike from Nicola Docherty handed Tony Gustavsson’s side their first defeat since last September. Yet again, Australia’s women put in a performance that hinted at promise, only to pair it with maddening shortcomings that threaten to derail any efforts to deliver on that potential.
Normal angst can now resume with a once-in-a-lifetime home Women’s World Cup just 103 days and two more friendly matches away. But perhaps this should not come as any surprise, even with the extended run of wins that preceded Friday’s outing in London. It has been a theme in both victory and defeat for years, ever since Gustavsson took over and every game became a piece of a much bigger puzzle, always analysed first and foremost through the prism of the looming World Cup.
Australia’s midfield was overrun in the latter stages of the first half at AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane, but Ellie Carpenter’s return from an ACL injury provided cheer. Increasing desperation to find an equaliser as the game went on and a slew of hit-and-hope long-range efforts resulted in 17 shots on goal, but only two were on target, while another strong showing off the bench from Alex Chidiac and numerous efforts bouncing off the frame of the goal were encouraging. Cynicism against optimism.
Ultimately though, just as it was unclear what a seventh straight win, over Jamaica to secure the Cup of Nations in February, meant for the Matildas’ World Cup chances, Friday’s defeat offers little clarity ahead of July’s start to the tournament.
More definitive omens about what lies ahead, perhaps, will be gleaned from a contest with reigning European champions England on Wednesday. The Lionesses downed Brazil on penalties on Thursday fielding an XI that, barring a few injury returns, will likely come pretty close to what Sarina Wiegman will deploy when they open their World Cup campaign against Haiti.
Matildas captain Sam Kerr will potentially return next week after sitting out the Scotland game, and with England having signalled that this window provides less scope for experimentation, Australia should receive one of the most reflective tests of their standing yet at the Brentford Community Stadium.
But Friday’s defeat came against a side that failed to qualify for the tournament, and there is now a greater sense of uncertainty heading into a match against a potential World Cup winner. Starting without Kerr, Caitlin Foord and Steph Catley, the Matildas’ reversion back to a 4-2-3-1 shape carried all the unwelcome nostalgia of a particularly unpleasant trip to the dentist; the same problems that have haunted this team throughout much of their abject form under Gustavsson once again reared their head.
The midfield struggled to dictate terms after the loss of early energy and pressing, and it took a goal to sting the Matildas into life. But desperation increased as time ticked away, and the absence of Carpenter’s surging runs forward following her withdrawal coincided with fewer successful penetrations into Scotland’s penalty area. The old issues were back. Familiar but not welcome. Emily Gielnik was also absent, and Larissa Crummer was given the nod up front in Kerr’s absence but outside of some early pressing, she offered little beyond a few wayward touches, and did little to strengthen her spot in the squad.
Ostensibly some of this should fix itself – starting with the returns of Kerr, Foord and Catley ahead of the World Cup. The trio are world-class players that make any team better and should allow the side to better deploy the 4-4-2 and 4-2-4 formations that had brought them success during the recent winning streak. Figure out a way to incorporate Carpenter’s strengths into that framework, as well as balance Chidiac’s role in the midfield with Katrina Gorry and Kyra Cooney-Cross, and things only get better.
But this paradigm also speaks to another layer of unease; for the past year, dreaded ACL tears have cast their shadow as more and more to players around the world have gone down. Now so close to the World Cup, every knock or illness carries its own layer of malice; what if this is the one that rules a player out? Gustavsson is the first to admit that the likes of Kerr and Foord are irreplaceable but Friday was a manifestation of this high definition, both in execution on the pitch and his own response to their absence.
On paper, the Matildas will surely improve when they are boosted by the return of their best players in their best positions, but three months of uncertainty lies ahead before Australia finds out if that will come to bear.
