Matildas The Matildas Thread

[CURVE]

Nice knee to the jaw from Yallop. Should have scored.

 

[juss]

Nice knee to the jaw from Yallop. Should have scored.

That looked brutal in real time.

 

[CURVE]

That looked brutal in real time.

Yep, the goalkeeper wasn't acting that time, unlike a couple of her team mates.

 

[giggler99]

1-0!!! Wonderful set piece!

 

[swingdog]

Entertaining but still frail at the back and lacking midfield creativity. Fowler has been a bit quiet.

 

[jhong]

Coach plays fullback at fullback . Ground breaking move coach ! Enjoyable game , players getting stuck in as well .

 

[CURVE]

Nice goal from Fowler. 2-0 to the Matilda's.

 

[CURVE]

Quick replay from Brazil. Horrible mistake from Kennedy.

 

[juss]

I know it's a friendly, but the Matildas are about 1000x more entertaining to watch than the boring as bat shit Socceroos. Probably because we are closer to the best in the Woman's game than we are in the Men's obviously, but at least they play entertaining football.

 

[CURVE]

They like to play an up tempo, attacking style of football which is great to watch, but it does leave susceptible at the back. They are a very "Heart in Mouth" team to follow.

 

[juss]

They like to play an up tempo, attacking style of football which is great to watch, but it does leave susceptible at the back. They are a very "Heart in Mouth" team to follow.

Yes, but it's amazing to go into any game against any other country and be a shot of scoring goals and winning, and they play an entertaining brand. The girls will win a WC one day.

 

[CURVE]

Yes, but it's amazing to go into any game against any other country and be a shot of scoring goals and winning, and they play an entertaining brand. The girls will win a WC one day.

Hopefully in 2023.

 

[swingdog]

Not sure we can play both Kennedy and Polkinghorne in central defence. Polkinghorne better tonight.

 

[giggler99]

FT Matildas 3 - 1 Brazil

defence a bit shaky but overall a good performance.

 

[jhong]

When Carpenter went forward , who was supposed to fall back and cover for her? Entertaining game for a friendly, personally don’t think Lydia Williams is our best choice for goalie but great to see the Matildas home .

 

[swingdog]

When Carpenter went forward , who was supposed to fall back and cover for her? Entertaining game for a friendly, personally don’t think Lydia Williams is our best choice for goalie but great to see the Matildas home .

Cooney-Cross should be doing that. Yeah, Williams not giving a lot of confidence with her communications with the defence and her clearances.

 

[stax on the mull]

That was cracking entertainment. Probably go best with 1 Carpenter 2 Catley and could almost give 3rd best to Van Egmond for her involvement in the last two goals, but probably a toss up between Fowler and Polkinghorne.

That was getting closer to a current full strength Matildas team out there in the first half - albeit some players like Foord and Simon lacking match fitness - so plenty of upside for Brazil especially when they mentioned the stat that their coach has played 42 different players so far this year.

Wish we could find that many players who are capable of playing for the national team in a season. We have to by 2023 and I guess by the finish of the game we started to see some of the newer crop given a bit a look with a chance to progress in the same way that Cooney-Cross and Fowler have now taken up their spots in the starting team.

 

[juss]

Also, Carpenter is ridiculous at only 21 years old with how much she's already contributed to the Matilda's.
Kerr has probably 2 WCs left in her.

But 2023 in AU/NZ and with this group of players, we will never have a better shot of winning than that in our lifetime.

Need to keep finding depth to keep the squad strong. In some of these friendlies we should give some more fringe players full games and halves for development

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Sorry to be the Debbie Downer but nothing I saw from the game last night makes me change my mind that Gustavsson is not the right coach.

A better team than Brazil would have punished the mistakes at the back a lot more ruthlessly.

Kennedy was lucky to be on the pitch for most of the game after she dragged down a Brazilian forward early in the first half because we were caught out of position by a fairly standard counter attack.

Polkinghorne and Kennedy are left exposed by pushing Carpenter and Catley forward, and they lack the pace to track back effectively. With Luik retired, Kellond-Knight injured and Cooney-Cross inexperienced at the top level, the midfield lacks the defensive midfielder to break up the opponent

We still have real problems keeping the ball. Top teams like the USWNT would make the Matildas sweat and give the ball away and then punish the Matildas on the counter.

It's a decent win, but Brazil is not fantastic at women's football. Let's not delude ourselves, we are not competing for a world cup until we sort out the defence.

 

[juss]

Sorry to be the Debbie Downer but nothing I saw from the game last night makes me change my mind that Gustavsson is not the right coach.

A better team than Brazil would have punished the mistakes at the back a lot more ruthlessly.

Kennedy was lucky to be on the pitch for most of the game after she dragged down a Brazilian forward early in the first half because we were caught out of position by a fairly standard counter attack.

Polkinghorne and Kennedy are left exposed by pushing Carpenter and Catley forward, and they lack the pace to track back effectively. With Luik retired, Kellond-Knight injured and Cooney-Cross inexperienced at the top level, the midfield lacks the defensive midfielder to break up the opponent

We still have real problems keeping the ball. Top teams like the USWNT would make the Matildas sweat and give the ball away and then punish the Matildas on the counter.

It's a decent win, but Brazil is not fantastic at women's football. Let's not delude ourselves, we are not competing for a world cup until we sort out the defence.

He's got 2 years to sort the defence then, cause he'll be taking them to the WC.

 

[swingdog]

Sorry to be the Debbie Downer but nothing I saw from the game last night makes me change my mind that Gustavsson is not the right coach.

A better team than Brazil would have punished the mistakes at the back a lot more ruthlessly.

Kennedy was lucky to be on the pitch for most of the game after she dragged down a Brazilian forward early in the first half because we were caught out of position by a fairly standard counter attack.

Polkinghorne and Kennedy are left exposed by pushing Carpenter and Catley forward, and they lack the pace to track back effectively. With Luik retired, Kellond-Knight injured and Cooney-Cross inexperienced at the top level, the midfield lacks the defensive midfielder to break up the opponent

We still have real problems keeping the ball. Top teams like the USWNT would make the Matildas sweat and give the ball away and then punish the Matildas on the counter.

It's a decent win, but Brazil is not fantastic at women's football. Let's not delude ourselves, we are not competing for a world cup until we sort out the defence.

Definitely needs KK back for 2023 but I'm not against giving CC the opportunity to grow into her position. As I said earlier, we can only afford one of Polkinghorne or Kennedy in the back line, not both. I don't know who can come into that role.

It's like a hangover from junior soccer. I coach a girls' team and we often see the tall, big girls are at the back coming up against the fastest players on the pitch, the forwards. I don't get it. We have one speedy central defender and one stopper/bruiser.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Definitely needs KK back for 2023 but I'm not against giving CC the opportunity to grow into her position. As I said earlier, we can only afford one of Polkinghorne or Kennedy in the back line, not both. I don't know who can come into that role.

It's like a hangover from junior soccer. I coach a girls' team and we often see the tall, big girls are at the back coming up against the fastest players on the pitch, the forwards. I don't get it. We have one speedy central defender and one stopper/bruiser.

Seems like Gustavsson has banished McCormick for the time being. Not sure she has been in a squad for any games this year. I rate Checker but she lacks top flight experience outside Australia and gets injured pretty regularly.

We seem to be well stocked for full backs, with Roestbakken and Beard in the squad, and Goad having played games recently, but the centre of defence is a concern. Taking Brock to an overseas tournament when she was a step away from retirement was quite telling.

I know it has previously been suggested, but I feel that Foord has lost her way as a forward for the Matildas. She made her name as a defender originally. I wonder if she would take on the challenge of moving back into defence for a bit. It has precedence, since Crystal Dunn plays as a midfielder for Portland and as a defender for the USWNT.

 

[stax on the mull]

Brazil are ranked 4 places ahead of us on the FIFA rankings so I don't agree that they're not that good, its just that we've beaten them the last 5 or 6 times we've played. They were pretty unlucky in the Olympics. They didn't lose a game in real time - drew with Netherlands (who made the last World Cup final) in their group and got knocked out in the Quarters on a penatly shoot out by the Gold Medallists Canada after a 0-0 draw.

I'll expect they'll start with a stronger side on Tuesday.

FIFA rankings Women's Football

Women's Ranking (fifa.com)

 

[raven echo]

Did they say why Kerr wasn't captain for this game? I could understand if she was on the bench but when she is starting XI?

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Did they say why Kerr wasn't captain for this game? I could understand if she was on the bench but when she is starting XI?

Kennedy was captain in recognition of her 100th cap for the Matildas. Kerr will be captain tomorrow.