Matildas The Matildas Thread

[jhong]

Torpey with an attempted cross floats into the back of the net 2-0. Wheeler been good too .

 

[jhong]

Johnson impressed as well .

 

[jhong]

2-0 win , amazingly 43,00 plus turn out .

 

[stax on the mull]

Huge turnout when I saw the attendance numbers. The crowd seemed to make more noise before the start and maybe not until after the second goal did it pick up again. Seemed kind of subdued, probably because of the quality of the football. I wasn't sure what to expect from Argentina but didn't really test the Matildas.

The first goal by Johnson might have been a step offside and the second goal looked like an accidental attempted cross by Torpey.

Pretty good performance first up by Johnson.

Grant, Heatley, Wheeler maybe the pick of the players out there.

 

[giggler99]

Do you think she meant this? Take them anyway you can I guess

 

[jhong]

Do you think she meant this? Take them anyway you can I guess

Nope , but she gets the goal credit anyway.

 

[jhong]

Thank you Tommy, 150 games in charge .

 

[Jeremias]

Fantastic appointment.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Do you think she meant this? Take them anyway you can I guess

I'm going to go against the grain and say that she absolutely meant it. The Argentine keeper was off her line, and Torpey basically chipped it over her head.

The second game against Argentina is tonight. I assume that Sermanni will still coach it, notwithstanding Montemurro being named the permanent head coach. Presumably, Montemurro will travel down from Sydney to Canberra to watch it, but I don't think he'll actually coach it.

 

[jhong]

It’s not on FTA tonight . What a shit arrangement in regards to our national teams .

 

[stax on the mull]

Goal to Sayer. Slight deflection off the defender. 1-0 Matildas v Argentina.

 

[stax on the mull]

1-1 Argentina Level

 

[stax on the mull]

Kahli Johnson off with an injury to be replaced by Holly McNamara. 1-1. 32 minutes.

 

[stax on the mull]

2-1 Sayer again. Ball from Foord.

 

[Fabab]

2nd goal for sayer was well taken .

 

[stax on the mull]

3-1 Van Egmond from Heyman assist/intercept.

 

[stax on the mull]

Isabel Gomez on for her first game.

 

[stax on the mull]

83 min 4-1 Heyman goal.

 

[jhong]

83 min 4-1 Heyman goal.

Thanks for the updates .

 

[swingdog]

After some barren years, we seem to have found some more striker options.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Argentina is pretty shite, so I wouldn't read too much into the fact that we scored a few goals against them. From what I watched on Friday night (I only saw the last 25 minutes of the game last night), Joe Montemurro still has a task ahead of him to find a long-term replacement for Sam Kerr (she turns 32 later this year, and hasn't played international football since the 2023 World Cup). Happy that Sayer put a couple of goals in the net, but I still think she's better deployed as an attacking midfielder, not a striker.

It's too bad that Montemurro wasn't hired 10 months ago when he was between jobs. Reading the paper this morning, Football Australia had to pay a fairly significant sum to convince Lyon to release him from his contract. Don't exactly know how much was paid, but given that he was a free agent before the start of the last European season, once again, Football Australia's dithering has ultimately cost the supporters money that could have been invested into the team directly.

This was the squad that Sermanni named for the two-game friendly series against Argentina:

Position	Caps	Goals
Goalkeepers
Morgan Aquino (DC Power)	0	0
Teagan Micah (Liverpool FC)	24	0
Jada Whyman (AIK)	0	0
Defenders
Steph Catley (Arsenal FC)	138	7
Charlotte Grant (Tottenham Hotspur)	35	1
Winonah Heatley (FC Nordsjaelland)	8	0
Clare Hunt (Tottenham Hotspur)	33	1
Alanna Kennedy (Angel City FC)	137	11
Courtney Nevin (Leicester City)	33	0
Natasha Prior (Newcastle Jets)	9	2
Jamilla Rankin (Brisbane Roar)	4	0
Midfielders
Kyra Cooney-Cross (Arsenal FC)	58	1
Leah Davidson (Melbourne City)	4	1
Isabel Gomez (Central Coast Mariners)	1	0
Amy Sayer (Kristianstads DFF)	13	3
Clare Wheeler (Everton F.C.)	30	2
Emily Van Egmond (Birmingham City)	160	32
Forwards
Caitlin Foord (Arsenal FC)	136	38
Bryleeh Henry (Melbourne City)	5	1
Michelle Heyman (Canberra United)	79	30
Kahli Johnson (Calgary Wild FC)	2	1
Holly McNamara (Melbourne City)	9	0
Kaitlyn Torpey (Portland Thorns FC)	16	2

Joe is going to look carefully at how he manages the likes of van Egmond, Kennedy and Heyman over the next 12-18 months, together with Kerr (once she's fit enough for selection). Losing Mary Fowler to that long-term knee injury is very unfortunate, as she could have been a real difference-maker for Australia in the Asia Cup.

 

[Fabab]

From what I watched last night I don't think McNamara is good enough at this level ,small sample size I know.

 

[swingdog]

Argentina is pretty shite, so I wouldn't read too much into the fact that we scored a few goals against them. From what I watched on Friday night (I only saw the last 25 minutes of the game last night), Joe Montemurro still has a task ahead of him to find a long-term replacement for Sam Kerr (she turns 32 later this year, and hasn't played international football since the 2023 World Cup). Happy that Sayer put a couple of goals in the net, but I still think she's better deployed as an attacking midfielder, not a striker.

It's too bad that Montemurro wasn't hired 10 months ago when he was between jobs. Reading the paper this morning, Football Australia had to pay a fairly significant sum to convince Lyon to release him from his contract. Don't exactly know how much was paid, but given that he was a free agent before the start of the last European season, once again, Football Australia's dithering has ultimately cost the supporters money that could have been invested into the team directly.

This was the squad that Sermanni named for the two-game friendly series against Argentina:

Position	Caps	Goals
Goalkeepers
Morgan Aquino (DC Power)	0	0
Teagan Micah (Liverpool FC)	24	0
Jada Whyman (AIK)	0	0
Defenders
Steph Catley (Arsenal FC)	138	7
Charlotte Grant (Tottenham Hotspur)	35	1
Winonah Heatley (FC Nordsjaelland)	8	0
Clare Hunt (Tottenham Hotspur)	33	1
Alanna Kennedy (Angel City FC)	137	11
Courtney Nevin (Leicester City)	33	0
Natasha Prior (Newcastle Jets)	9	2
Jamilla Rankin (Brisbane Roar)	4	0
Midfielders
Kyra Cooney-Cross (Arsenal FC)	58	1
Leah Davidson (Melbourne City)	4	1
Isabel Gomez (Central Coast Mariners)	1	0
Amy Sayer (Kristianstads DFF)	13	3
Clare Wheeler (Everton F.C.)	30	2
Emily Van Egmond (Birmingham City)	160	32
Forwards
Caitlin Foord (Arsenal FC)	136	38
Bryleeh Henry (Melbourne City)	5	1
Michelle Heyman (Canberra United)	79	30
Kahli Johnson (Calgary Wild FC)	2	1
Holly McNamara (Melbourne City)	9	0
Kaitlyn Torpey (Portland Thorns FC)	16	2

Joe is going to look carefully at how he manages the likes of van Egmond, Kennedy and Heyman over the next 12-18 months, together with Kerr (once she's fit enough for selection). Losing Mary Fowler to that long-term knee injury is very unfortunate, as she could have been a real difference-maker for Australia in the Asia Cup.

I think they'll shift away (they have already started doing this) from an over-reliance on one lone striker to a more balanced front three.

Probably, at this stage, Foord, Johnson/Heyman and Torpey (though I'd actually try Grant there when Carpenter is back).

I'd start with Cooney-Cross, Wheeler and Sayer (taking EVE's spot) in the middle. Then Carpenter, Kennedy, Catley and Rankin in the backline.

 

[stax on the mull]

There's still a bunch of players who haven't been considered because of injury or personal reasons. Gorry is one of the older ones but I think she was getting married, but has been in good club form in the UK, is captain of West Ham, and I saw some rating list of UK players that had her in the Top 10 for the past season.

I'm also thinking about names like Courtnee Vine, Sharn Freier, Daniela Galic and Sarah Hunter who are or will be playing overseas.

 

[jhong]

Is Carpenter injured?