Remove this Banner Ad

Matildas The Matildas Thread

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

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.
 
Last edited:

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

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.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

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:

PositionCapsGoals
Goalkeepers
Morgan Aquino (DC Power)00
Teagan Micah (Liverpool FC)240
Jada Whyman (AIK)00
Defenders
Steph Catley (Arsenal FC)1387
Charlotte Grant (Tottenham Hotspur)351
Winonah Heatley (FC Nordsjaelland)80
Clare Hunt (Tottenham Hotspur)331
Alanna Kennedy (Angel City FC)13711
Courtney Nevin (Leicester City)330
Natasha Prior (Newcastle Jets)92
Jamilla Rankin (Brisbane Roar)40
Midfielders
Kyra Cooney-Cross (Arsenal FC)581
Leah Davidson (Melbourne City)41
Isabel Gomez (Central Coast Mariners)10
Amy Sayer (Kristianstads DFF)133
Clare Wheeler (Everton F.C.)302
Emily Van Egmond (Birmingham City)16032
Forwards
Caitlin Foord (Arsenal FC)13638
Bryleeh Henry (Melbourne City)51
Michelle Heyman (Canberra United)7930
Kahli Johnson (Calgary Wild FC)21
Holly McNamara (Melbourne City)90
Kaitlyn Torpey (Portland Thorns FC)162

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

PositionCapsGoals
Goalkeepers
Morgan Aquino (DC Power)00
Teagan Micah (Liverpool FC)240
Jada Whyman (AIK)00
Defenders
Steph Catley (Arsenal FC)1387
Charlotte Grant (Tottenham Hotspur)351
Winonah Heatley (FC Nordsjaelland)80
Clare Hunt (Tottenham Hotspur)331
Alanna Kennedy (Angel City FC)13711
Courtney Nevin (Leicester City)330
Natasha Prior (Newcastle Jets)92
Jamilla Rankin (Brisbane Roar)40
Midfielders
Kyra Cooney-Cross (Arsenal FC)581
Leah Davidson (Melbourne City)41
Isabel Gomez (Central Coast Mariners)10
Amy Sayer (Kristianstads DFF)133
Clare Wheeler (Everton F.C.)302
Emily Van Egmond (Birmingham City)16032
Forwards
Caitlin Foord (Arsenal FC)13638
Bryleeh Henry (Melbourne City)51
Michelle Heyman (Canberra United)7930
Kahli Johnson (Calgary Wild FC)21
Holly McNamara (Melbourne City)90
Kaitlyn Torpey (Portland Thorns FC)162

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.
 
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.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Remove this Banner Ad

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top Bottom