Matildas The Matildas and the 2019 Women's World Cup Thread

[Lebbo73]

Kerr has achieved plenty.

I meant as a team who cops criticism for recent form and a player has a melt at the critics. They very rarely go on to prove the critics wrong.

 

[juss]

Can't believe I missed the game. Stuffed up my calendar I genuinely thought it was tonight at 2am

 

[nobbyiscool]

I ******* love Sam Kerr. I got her name/number on the Tillie's jersey I bought a little while a back, and I didn't even consider anyone else.

But her comments after the game this morning really bothered me. There were no "haters" of the players. There weren't even really any "haters" of Milicic. All the vitriol was directed towards the FFA.

Regardless, you can't take that attitude to criticism from within your own country - it's small-minded, and it suggests immaturity. Not immaturity of Kerr herself, but immaturity of the place of this team in the Australian sporting landscape.

The Matilda's are in a position that no national team of any sport has been in for over a decade - I think the Socceroos were probably the last national team in this position coming out of the 2006 World Cup. They've reached mainstream - we care about them enough that we have expectations, we invest in the team and it annoys us when they don't perform as well as we expect, and as well as we know we can. They might have even reached a level that our women's cricket team and our national netball team haven't experienced.

You have to embrace that as a player, because it's such a unique position to be in. If you're so adverse to criticism, and if you're going to shoot from the hip at people for having expectation and for being excited by the team, people aren't going to invest, and the Matilda's are going to go back to nudie-calendar obscurity as soon as this golden generation of women fade away. The message has to be something like "we know that everyone back home was disappointed with how the Italy game finished, but we've worked really hard to win back that pride and excitement from all the fans back in Australia and we can't wait to show everyone how much this means to us against Jamaica."

 

[Macpotata]

What a *en win and what a *en come back.


BRazil hahahahaha!!!!!!!

 

[giggler99]

I recorded the match (with work today I wasn't going to watch the match live) but given the context and no doubt the torrents of criticism that would come the Matildas' way if they hadn't won the match, I think it's fair enough. They will need to walk the walk, though. Jamaica won't be a walk in the park as they have some better than decent players that could threaten the Matildas if they let down their guard.

Some statistics to ponder. Australia's defeat of Brazil is Australia's fifth win on the trot against Brazil. It's the first time since 1999 that the Brazilians have conceded a goal in a group stage. It's also the first time the Brazilians have lost a group match since 1995. It's the most goals conceded by Brazil in their previous 13 group stage games combined. Monica's own goal was the second own goal conceded by Brazil at Women's World Cups ever, after Daiane against the USA in 2011.

Chloe Logarzo became the first Australian player to both score and assist in a Women's World Cup game since Leena Khamis achieved that feat in 2011 against Equatorial Guinea.

Marta extends her lead for most goals scored at World Cups, with 16, ahead of Germany's Birgit Prinz and US forward Abby Wambach, who both retired on 14 goals.

In terms of match stats, Australia dominated possession (57-43), the two teams were equal with shots at goal (11 apiece), Australia had more shots on target (five to three) and Australia had more corners (four to three).

fantastic! how did you find those stats?

 

[stax on the mull]

I ******* love Sam Kerr. I got her name/number on the Tillie's jersey I bought a little while a back, and I didn't even consider anyone else.

But her comments after the game this morning really bothered me. There were no "haters" of the players. There weren't even really any "haters" of Milicic. All the vitriol was directed towards the FFA.

Regardless, you can't take that attitude to criticism from within your own country - it's small-minded, and it suggests immaturity. Not immaturity of Kerr herself, but immaturity of the place of this team in the Australian sporting landscape.

The Matilda's are in a position that no national team of any sport has been in for over a decade - I think the Socceroos were probably the last national team in this position coming out of the 2006 World Cup. They've reached mainstream - we care about them enough that we have expectations, we invest in the team and it annoys us when they don't perform as well as we expect, and as well as we know we can. They might have even reached a level that our women's cricket team and our national netball team haven't experienced.

You have to embrace that as a player, because it's such a unique position to be in. If you're so adverse to criticism, and if you're going to shoot from the hip at people for having expectation and for being excited by the team, people aren't going to invest, and the Matilda's are going to go back to nudie-calendar obscurity as soon as this golden generation of women fade away. The message has to be something like "we know that everyone back home was disappointed with how the Italy game finished, but we've worked really hard to win back that pride and excitement from all the fans back in Australia and we can't wait to show everyone how much this means to us against Jamaica."

Its not really genuine support though when its from people who pop in once every major tournament and use a poor performance to leverage a bunch of other grievances they have with the FFA, gender politics, political correctness etc.

I bet the players know what she meant, and if they used the outside noise as motivation good luck to them. Milicic just laughed when a journo asked about her comments in the post match.

 

[swingdog]

Its not really genuine support though when its from people who pop in once every major tournament and use a poor performance to leverage a bunch of other grievances they have with the FFA, gender politics, political correctness etc.

I bet the players know what she meant, and if they used the outside noise as motivation good luck to them. Milicic just laughed when a journo asked about her comments in the post match.

Plus, there's this sort of thing she's copped:

 

[hey shorty]

Plus, there's this sort of thing she's copped:

Whilst that is a vile thing for the ****head to say, he's just that.... he isn't a hater.

She's channeling her anger in the wrong way.

 

[stax on the mull]

There's a little bit of that vile stuff lurking around, but that specific comment, you can see from the content that it also refers to the offside decision during the game, which wouldn't have been something Sam would have read when she made her comments on the ground after the match.

The thing is, she said what she said cheekily, and so often you hear people complaining about sports personalities lacking authenticity and trotting out the same old clichés, its kind of refreshing to have a captain who is at the stage of her development with the team where she says what she is feeling. Sam's got another couple of world cup campaigns in her.

 

[nobbyiscool]

Plus, there's this sort of thing she's copped:

If she's assuming the worst of all of us as fans and lumping us all in with that, then she unfortunately doesn't have a place as our national team captain.

Even if 10% of people think that - and the real number wouldn't be anything like that - who gives a s**t? Show some leadership to the girls and young women who are relying on you to carve out opportunities for them in the future. Don't be so petty as to focus on the tiny minority, show the rest of us how much it means to you and team.

 

[Galaxie77]

Italy win 5-0 against Jamaica, very good, good for goal difference.

 

[ABSOLUTE MADMAN]

If she's assuming the worst of all of us as fans and lumping us all in with that, then she unfortunately doesn't have a place as our national team captain.

Even if 10% of people think that - and the real number wouldn't be anything like that - who gives a ****? Show some leadership to the girls and young women who are relying on you to carve out opportunities for them in the future. Don't be so petty as to focus on the tiny minority, show the rest of us how much it means to you and team.

I completely agree with you.. But also notice the similarities of another sporting personality in 2015 that also had a documentary released about them recently.

 

[SunGirl89]

Italy win 5-0 against Jamaica, very good, good for goal difference.

Not for Australia. If Brazil beat Italy, Australia are in trouble.
Brazil by 1: Italy GD +5, Brazil GD +3
Brazil by 2: Italy GD +4, Brazil GD +4

Goals scored: Italy 7, Brazil 5, Australia 4

In the scenarios above, Australia could beat Jamaica by 3-4 goals and still finish 3rd. Best result for Australia is an Italy win, that will guarantee 2nd place for Australia.

 

[nobbyiscool]

I completely agree with you.. But also notice the similarities of another sporting personality in 2015 that also had a documentary released about them recently.

No.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

fantastic! how did you find those stats?

Various sites online. BBC chief among them.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Not for Australia. If Brazil beat Italy, Australia are in trouble.
Brazil by 1: Italy GD +5, Brazil GD +3
Brazil by 2: Italy GD +4, Brazil GD +4

Goals scored: Italy 7, Brazil 5, Australia 4

In the scenarios above, Australia could beat Jamaica by 3-4 goals and still finish 3rd. Best result for Australia is an Italy win, that will guarantee 2nd place for Australia.

Yeah, there is a real chance Australia will finish third in the group.

I'm not going to lie, my heart sank in seeing the scoreline this morning.

 

[Dawggin It]

Yeah, there is a real chance Australia will finish third in the group.

I'm not going to lie, my heart sank in seeing the scoreline this morning.

There are six groups and the 4 best 3rd placed teams advance to the knockout stages.

Group D's 3rd placed team can at best finish with 4 points.

Basically if the Matildas beat Jamaica they go through regardless of what happens in the Italy Brazil game, it would take an inconceivable sequence of results for Australia to miss.

 

[juss]

Plus, there's this sort of thing she's copped:

I don't know if it's just me and maybe I'm being harsh, but with this and the "suck on that one" comment, is there a possibility that Sam Kerr as the captain of a team trying to win the WC, she could possibly for 2 weeks take the water off a ducks back approach and ignore online trolls?

They exist everywhere and will forever and a day, maybe this two weeks is the time to show some focus and leadership and just lead her team rather than crusading and responding to every critic or troll publicly?

Not sure if I'm being too harsh, but there's a job to do. She has shown she can be distracted by this stuff so it will only get worse.

 

[SunGirl89]

Basically if the Matildas beat Jamaica they go through regardless of what happens in the Italy Brazil game, it would take an inconceivable sequence of results for Australia to miss.

Advancing is not the issue. Finishing in 3rd is because in that case, in the 2nd Round we have a 90% chance of playing the host nation France, and a 10% chance of playing Germany. In short, if Australia finishes 3rd they will not make the quarter finals.

 

[revo333]

I don't know if it's just me and maybe I'm being harsh, but with this and the "suck on that one" comment, is there a possibility that Sam Kerr as the captain of a team trying to win the WC, she could possibly for 2 weeks take the water off a ducks back approach and ignore online trolls?

They exist everywhere and will forever and a day, maybe this two weeks is the time to show some focus and leadership and just lead her team rather than crusading and responding to every critic or troll publicly?

Not sure if I'm being too harsh, but there's a job to do. She has shown she can be distracted by this stuff so it will only get worse.

I think after the game when she has calmed down she maybe has realised it probably wasn't good timing for the comment and she has used the tweet to smooth over any damage.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

A player shows some emotion after a game and doesn't talk in media managed cliches.

 

[nobbyiscool]

A player shows some emotion after a game and doesn't talk in media managed cliches.

There's plenty of room between "media managed cliches" and painting all of the fans who care about and support this team with the same brush as "the haters."

 

[Collingwoodity]

I agree. I thought it was an unhelpful comment.

The criticism was levelled at the FFA mainly. It existed before the World Cup started.

There was some criticism of the tactics and performance in the game against Italy but it was quite normal considering the tactics and performance in the game against Italy.


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[Mr_Bojangles]

Did she paint all fans as haters though? I thought it was great and one of the reasons why they seem to be cut from a different cloth of other national teams.

 

[SunGirl89]

Losing to Italy means nothing.
Sam Kerr’s comments mean nothing.
All that matters is making the quarter finals.
That should be when our World Cup starts.