There are two ways to conceptualise Australia’s 11-goal thriller against Zambia on Sunday, complete with a 90th minute winner which kept the Matildas’ Paris Olympics hopes alive.
Once you look past the superlatives – sublime, ridiculous, unworldly – and the alliteration (“nonsense in Nice”, as one wag put it, five years on from that nightmare in Nice), it boils down to two contrasting world views on the state of the Matildas and their current predicament.
For those of a sunnier disposition, this epitomised the great rollercoaster that is the Matildas™. “We really do play by our slogan,” suggested an exhausted Mary Fowler after the match. “‘Til it’s done.”
‘Til it’s done’, ‘never say die’ – take your pick of the catch-phrases. This was just the Matildas being the Matildas. It has become part of their brand identity. Plenty of national teams, down three goals midway through the second half to an unexpectedly deadly foe, would have been dejected and defeated. The Matildas came roaring back – one goal, then a second, then a third, and then a winner.
There was a goal chalked off. There were chances that went begging. At any of those crucial moments, a less determined team might have crumpled. Recovering from a five-two deficit showed immense will-power from the Matildas.
According to coach Tony Gustavsson, the mood in the locker-room at half-time was solely focused on solutions. “When you coach a group of players like this, you never stop believing. Ever. Is it a crazy game? Yes. But being five-two down in the 56th minute, I don’t know if the [national] team has ever done that in tournament football, men’s or women’s. It says everything about the never say die attitude in this group.”
For the optimists, this remarkable comeback victory will buoy the Matildas ahead of their crunch match against the United States on Wednesday in Marseille. It is just the sort of win needed to invigorate their Olympic campaign. Next stop - an Olympic medal?
Then there is a less charitable way to assess the group stage clash on Sunday night. Zambia are ranked 64th in the world. They have two of the best attackers in the world, yes, but as a cohesive national team, they are far from the finished product (the untenable position of their coach does not help). This is a game the Matildas, who have finished fourth at consecutive international tournaments, should have controlled and won comfortably.
That the team conceded five goals and needed a last-gasp Michelle Heyman winner is not something to be celebrated. The team should never have been in that position in the first place. And it bodes ill for the much sterner tests ahead.
In some respects, these philosophical differences reflect different perspectives and possibly even different levels of emotional investment in the team. To a casual fan, a 6-5 thriller is wonderful entertainment. To a die-hard, it is an unthinkable travesty.
Here is the tension between substance and form. The Matildas got away with it, but is that all that matters? For patches of the game against Zambia, the team played some of their worst football in recent memory. How do we reconcile that with the jubilation of a stunning comeback and feel-good, last-minute winner?
On Wednesday, the Matildas face the United States. The defensive frailties exposed by Zambia will be ripe for exploitation by the Americans. It would also be entirely in keeping with the Matildas recent alternating identity for them to suddenly relocate their defensive mettle and lock down a nil-all draw. Which Matildas will turn up on match-day?
Beyond the final group stage encounter, it is probable – although not yet guaranteed – that the win over Zambia secures Australia’s progression to the quarter-final. Canada’s six-point deduction for spying helps but there are still some permutations where the Matildas, if they lose to the United States, find themselves on the plane home. But the most likely scenario is that the Australians progress to the next round.
From there, Australia would only be two wins away from the nation’s first-ever Olympic football medal. If the Matildas progress as one of the two top-ranked third place teams, they will have harder quarter-final opponents – possibly Spain or France. A team that concedes five goals against Zambia does not seem like one likely to overcome such powerhouse nations. Then again Australia has beaten France in both of their past two meetings.
Perhaps it is best just to forget about the Zambia result, dismiss the chaos as a fever dream and focus on the next match. On Sunday, captain Steph Catley was asked whether the location of the Zambian encounter, the famous stage for that nightmare in Nice five years ago, had weighed on her mind at all. She swiftly dismissed the question. “Football moves quick,” she said. “You forget about those.”
For all that took place on Sunday night, in 72 hours, this chaos will have been forgotten and attention will shift to the United States. Whether that is for better, or for worse, remains to be seen.
