Matildas The Matildas Thread

Remove this Banner Ad

Log in to remove this ad.

Pretty disappointing after the first couple of minutes of the second half. Pretty clear that there's still a lot of work to be done before the World Cup. Defence looks very porous.
 
Sam Kerr scores her first goal against the USWNT. 4-3 to the USA. Great cross from Raso to set up the chance for Kerr, who beat the defender to the punch.

 
Awesome headered goal by Kerr.

Thankfully our path during the upcoming WC is relatively easy.
 
Last edited:
Just the third time in the last five years that the USWNT has conceded 3 goals:

2019-04-04 - USA 5 Australia 3 (friendly)
2019-01-20 - France 3 USA 1 (friendly)
2016-06-03 - USA 3 Japan 3 (friendly)
 
SunGirl89 said:
Just the third time in the last five years that the USWNT has conceded 3 goals:

2019-04-04 - USA 5 Australia 3 (friendly)
2019-01-20 - France 3 USA 1 (friendly)
2016-06-03 - USA 3 Japan 3 (friendly)
Click to expand...

Defence needs to be sorted out asap. Kyah Simon missed today, not at all convinced by Polkinghorne. Weak defence means van Egmond is dropping further back to help robbing us in the midfield. Also, Chidiak needs to replace Kellond-Knight, too passive going into attack otherwise.
 
When you score 3 goals you should win.

We can construct good goals but we gave away the ball too easy and good opposition puts your defence under pressure right away. eg Twice Williams kicked out directly to US less that 25m from goal, but all over the park the cheap turnovers invited the US to push forward and create a scoring opportunity. Good teams will score from good play, they don't need the extra bonuses from poor passing.

Polks won't be happy not keeping her feet on the first US goal. Still, Catley coming back will help sure things up as she provides a lot of cover. Gemma Simon playing Catley's position was ok, the edge came off her game in the last 15-20min and that's the time of the game where Catley is still going strong.

Pleasing was Carpenter defending and attacking, DeVanna, Foord in the first hour and when Fowler came on for Foord we didn't lose any creativity.

Also one of the US goals, the one that was scored from after it was pinged twice across box, 3 x US players were offside on the initial cross.
 
Last edited:

(Log in to remove this ad.)

The US player (I've forgotten her name) should have copped a straight card for the tackle on Kerr. Really could have done some serious injury to Kerr and completely unnecessary, especially in a friendly.
 
The defence struggled mightily, but the Matildas over the park just couldn't keep the ball for any sustained period of time. There was a stat posted to Twitter that made mention of the fact that, of all the starting players, Kerr had the least number of touches from either side. She scored a good goal (nice cross from Raso to set her up) and had a couple of chances on another day she would have put away, but the US did really well overall to isolate her.
 
No doubt we are better for having today's game scheduled. A good reminder that we are pretty good but have definite room for improvement.

As far as I can see, we have no more friendlies before the World Cup. Seriously, what the * Football Australia?

USA on the other hand play Belgium on Sunday and then South Africa, New Zealand and Mexico next month.

Games in 2019 between now and the World Cup: USA 3, Australia 0
Games in 2019 before the World Cup: USA 10, Australia 4
 
swingdog said:
Defence needs to be sorted out asap. Kyah Simon missed today, not at all convinced by Polkinghorne. Weak defence means van Egmond is dropping further back to help robbing us in the midfield. Also, Chidiak needs to replace Kellond-Knight, too passive going into attack otherwise.
Click to expand...

Polkinghorne falling over was reminiscent of Clinton Young falling over in the goal square in the 2012 grand final and coughing up a goal. She won't want to look at that too many times on replay. I'm not convinced by Kennedy (too easily wrong-footed by Morgan for her 100th goal) and although she's the designated set piece queen, I haven't seen one shot from a set piece that has threatened the opponent, including in the finals in the W-League.

Milicic has a lot of work to do in order to consolidate the defence. Having Catley back should help, and I'm sure he'll find room in the starting XI for Logarzo when she's back to full fitness to help with the midfield. I think the Matildas would best be served by having another warm-up match before the World Cup, because it's all well and good beating up on inferior nations on your own soil, like they did in the Cup of Nations, but today's match revealed much more about the Matildas' strengths and weaknesses.
 
SunGirl89 said:
No doubt we are better for having today's game scheduled. A good reminder that we are pretty good but have definite room for improvement.

As far as I can see, we have no more friendlies before the World Cup. Seriously, what the **** Football Australia?

USA on the other hand play Belgium on Sunday and then South Africa, New Zealand and Mexico next month.

Games in 2019 between now and the World Cup: USA 3, Australia 0
Games in 2019 before the World Cup: USA 10, Australia 4
Click to expand...
You would certainly want more games to fine tune, 0 games in the next 63 days before the world cup starts isn't many. I think maybe 1 in April, a couple more in May and then maybe one just around June the 2nd as a final warm up game before game 1 a week later. I think the men's usually do a couple warm up games in the weeks leading up to the WC. That being said, the if the US are playing 10, with that many games you possibly risk some fatigue or unnecessary injuries coming into the tournament. There's a limit to how much good beating up on a bunch of average teams does for performance or whether it just risks players and pulls them out of club level too much.
 
I agree that 10 games is a lot, and Belgium, SA, NZ and Mexico are only 20, 49, 19 and 26 in the world.

It would be good if the Matildas had one or two more games against top 15 nations.
 
I only saw bits of the first half, and of what I saw the defending wasn't good. And judging by the final scoreline it doesn't sound like it got much better.

I can't believe that the Matildas have no more games scheduled before the start of the World Cup. This would be crazy at the best of times, but when the team has a new coach and the players clearly need time to adapt to his desired scheme/play style it is even more so
 
USWNT ended up winning 6-0.

In the meantime, the FFA announced that the Matildas will play the Netherlands in a friendly on 1 June 2019 in Eindhoven.

 
First round of the NWSL is this weekend. Washington Spirit v Sky Blue and North Carolina Courage v Chicago Red Stars are on Sunday at 9am Melbourne time, Orlando Pride v Portland Thorns at 7am Melbourne time on Monday, Houston Dash v Seattle Reign at 8am Melbourne time on Monday. Utah has the bye. This season there are 13 Australian players on rosters in the NSWL, and all of them are Matildas (or have played for Australia in the last couple of months):

  • Ellie Carpenter - Portland Thorns
  • Steph Catley - Seattle Reign
  • Caitlin Foord - Portland Thorns
  • Amy Harrison - Washington Spirit
  • Elise Kellond-Knight - Seattle Reign
  • Alanna Kennedy - Orlando Pride
  • Samantha Kerr - Chicago Red Stars
  • Chloe Logarzo - Washington Spirit
  • Clare Polkinghorne - Houston Dash
  • Hayley Raso - Portland Thorns
  • Kyah Simon - Houston Dash
  • Emily Van Egmond - Orlando Pride
  • Lydia Williams - Seattle Reign
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Matildas The Matildas and The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
207 208 209 210 211
Replies
5K
Views
103K
ep2018
ep2018
giggler99
Auckland FC Thread
Replies
14
Views
845
acm21
acm21
giggler99
  • Sticky
A-League 2023/24 A-League Women Thread
2 3
Replies
58
Views
3K
giggler99
giggler99
giggler99
2023/24 AFC Club Competitions Thread
2 3
Replies
67
Views
3K
Munga
Munga
giggler99
2023 Australia Cup Thread
2 3 4
Replies
83
Views
3K
Zim^zuM
Zim^zuM
giggler99
2023/24 Melbourne Victory Thread - DADADA DADA DA SILVA!!!
49 50 51 52 53
Replies
1K
Views
23K
netslave
netslave
giggler99
A-League The 2022/23 A-League Women Thread
2 3
Replies
60
Views
4K
giggler99
giggler99

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top