Matildas The Matildas Thread

[stax on the mull]

Took a little longer than usual, but Gustavsson's chief media defender comes through as usual. Dumb article, but par for the course for Lewis.

Don't know what you're on about. Just seems like a stock standard review where she focused on Kerr breaking the record of goal scoring.

She included that there was some criticism of the selection particularly by Georgia Yeoman in particular - and is reporting on what Gustavsson said in the post match interview when asked about selections.

Does her opinion have to be the same as yours to be valid?

 

[jhong]

Won’t score 18 tonite .

 

[CURVE]

I hope Foord and Yallop are replaced at halftime, both have struggled more than others to connect with their passes tonight.

 

[Munga]

Was going to be tougher against USA-P, but a lot of lairising out there and carelessness. Maybe we're trying not to win?

I haven't been a fan of Kennedy for a while, many mistakes and goals go past her. Hopefully her position can be filled with someone better soon.

 

[CURVE]

Phew

 

[CURVE]

And now we have two in quick succession.

 

[swingdog]

Good finish, like Vine up front, adds pace.

 

[giggler99]

awesome Second half!

 

[jhong]

Much better 2nd half , good to see the younger players get some minutes .

 

[Sth Melb Hellas]

Top effort against the 64th ranked team.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Give Vine a start against Thailand, she showed some real quality when she came on. Fowler struggled until the finish (which was very good).

Play more of the kids in the next game before the QFs. But yeah, the CBs are still a concern against decent opposition.

 

[stax on the mull]

Was surprised to see Mary Fowler voted Player Of The Match. Do think she's a magic player but she really struggled to keep possession in the first half and if it wasn't that Foord and Yallop gave their busted arse showings (agreeing with the comment previous about this) she could have been subbed at half time.

Van Egmond, Carpenter best on for me. Catley put in some good balls into the box.

Awful first half though. Even with the crosses coming in being above average for Matildas and actually finding someone - the next phase of play was non existent. They got it so easy against Indonesia it was like they were laying off speculative balls that they didn't think Philippines players would bother to intercept.

Foord's got to mix up her game a bit more - getting so predictable to defenders. The best bit of play she did was that long dribbling run directly across ground in the 2nd half before she got taken off.

Courtnee Vine definitely earnt another showing based on that first up effort.

 

[CURVE]

Van Egmond has put the Matilda's 1-0 up late in the first half.

 

[Munga]

Thailand playing handball and getting away with it

 

[CURVE]

1-0 at halftime to the Matilda's.

BTW, Gustavsson dropped Kerr, Polkinghorne, Carpenter, Fowler, Foord, Kennedy and Micah for this morning's game.

Williams, Luik, Grant, Cooney-Cross, McNamara, Siemsen and Wheeler are starting.

That's a lot of changes, I hope I got them right.

 

[Munga]

My first look at Wheeler, she might have something.

Really annoyed how we telegraph our passes. So much space and open players appear as soon as our ball carrier turns away, gotta take a moment and switch back to the other side. Even little flick-ons in the middle are on, but we keep going wide or back to the defenders.

 

[Munga]

Williams lost her awareness late, conceded an unecessary corner. Then from the corner she couldn't take the ball, then couldn't get up quickly enough, Thailand score. A cluster !@#$ from her in the final minute.

 

[Munga]

Not much gel with that second eleven, maybe Vine the best. But very little solid connection.

 

[stax on the mull]

Luik, Catley and Van Egmond (who put in another top performance) were the only experienced players that started (along with GK Williams who didn't have much to do)

We had lots of corners and crosses but didn't really pick a side to try and exploit the height factor on the in the box. Van Egmond was the only tall target. Even when Kyah Simon came on at half time - she was taking the corners when she could have been handy in the box.

Vine had a lot of success on the right side slipping past defenders but her crosses weren't as good as the other night, and the quality of striker in the box was absent until the last 20 minutes. Later Vine went to right back and played a bit like Carpenter does roaming all over the field, but she also put in a bad backpass which gave Thailand a scoring chance. After Vine was subbed Kyah Simon continued the experiment moving from forward to slot in at right back for the last bit of the game.

Of the other youngsters - Wheeler seems the one that slots in without fuss, has neat skills and plays that defensive midfielder role well. Cooney-Cross too quiet in midfield and only started to play some good passes when the first choice players came on late in the game. Grant at left back* is a speedster but didn't have the quality of crosses and can lose possession by being shoved off a disputed ball too easily. Seimsen did ok presenting, holding the ball up and laying it off a without looking dangerous as a striker.

McNamara likes to have a ping at goal from medium and long range (20-40m) but didn't test their keeper - hungry for that 1st goal and seemed a bit selfish but was really busy and partly effective like Vine on the other flank. She went off with an injury collapsing without being tackled - not sure if serious but a worry given her previous history.

Nevin made the most mistakes giving the ball up at left back, then went to central defence in the second half and played better.

Kyah Simon looked really classy when she came on. Her ability to control difficult balls and drop them to her feet and her passing skills stood out.

Fowler, Kerr, Geilnik & Foord came in the last 15- 20 minutes for a run. Fowler had the best chance but hit it over the bar.

It was too much of a low key game to enjoy - just interesting to see if any young players could shine and not many did.

You could say the result should have been a draw as Kerr's goal wasn't from good play but as a result of a spilled catch by their GK. A good long range goal by Thailand in the very last play before the whistle blew conceded from a corner when Williams wasn't sure where she was and flipped a ball out of play. You could say we made enough chances that we didn't finish but that's another ongoing story with the Matildas whether the opposition is weak or strong - we're not clinical enough even though we have good forwards.

* Edit to notes: Actually think Grant might have stayed on the same side of the ground in the first and second half so played both at right back then left back.

 

[stax on the mull]

Strongest line-up. Not at all confident about this one. South Korea coming off a draw against Japan. 11th vs 18th on the FIFA rankings.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Dominated most of the first half, only for the referee to invent a penalty for Korea via VAR. a complete joke of a decision, great to see she skied the resulting spot kick.

 

[swingdog]

Foord needs to come off. Out of form and playing angry.

 

[Satan]

Williams great save

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Two massive saves by Williams. Good idea to bring Vine on, but we’ve lost our way here.

 

[Satan]

Wtf aussie girl held in area