By Kieran Yap 1/12/23
Above: Sarah Hunter is one of the players who may make their debut in this international window. Photo: Rachel Bach/By The White Line. Supplied by Football Australia.
As Australia prepares to play Canada, fans should expect the team to seize the chance to experiment and improve
Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson will be using the two games against Canada to improve the team and provide opportunities for new and fringe faces to push for a spot on the Olympic roster should Australia qualify.
Preparation for this match has been disrupted by the unavailability of Sam Kerr, and Charlie Grant but that has opened the door for the likes of Sarah Hunter and Charlize Rule to make senior debuts and for fan favourite Alex Chidiac to impress the coaches.
“This is one of the very few windows before the Olympic qualifiers and the potential Olympic that we can actually experiment and look at things…this window is the one opportunity against top ranked opposition where we can actually test players.
“It’s maybe not about winning a game but winning a player. So we’re going to give a lot of players an opportunity in this first game to look at them and what they’ve got in this environment so they are given a fair chance to fight for a spot on the Olympic roster.”
Gustavsson’s star has risen since the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. It was not so long ago that he was fielding questions about facing the axe, now he is being sought by Sweden to take over their men’s national team.
Despite the interest from other nations, Gustavsson remains committed to The Matildas.
“My sole focus is on the Matildas and qualifying for the Olympics,” he said.
“We have unfinished business with this team.”
For the first time in over a year, the focus of this game is not entirely on Australia. Canada are using this window to farewell one of the greats of the sport. Christine Sinclair will wear the national colours for the final time against Australia, it is something that The Matildas feel honoured by.
“I’ve had the privilege to see her play a lot,” said Gustavsson about Sinclair.
“I’ve coached against her a lot. For me she represents so much more than being one of the best forwards to ever play the game. the way she leads a team and the way she carries herself as a person has been tremendously impressive to watch. “
With Canada certain to perform well for their talismanic captain, this presents an excellent opportunity for Australia to test themselves and new ideas against a strong and highly motivated side.
Gustavsson pointed out that despite recent strong results, there are still some areas that The Matildas need to improve on. At the World Cup, they were among the top three nations for pressing and breaking down the final line of defence, but needed to work on winning the ball back after losing possession and bringing the ball out from the back. Canada presents the perfect opportunity to enhance these aspects of their game.
“We need to be brave enough to test certain players in certain positions. We need to test certain tactical aspects in certain phases of games and learn from the mistakes that we will make tomorrow but also learn to get some good perfect pictures.
“We always want to step on the field trying to win, but we’re trying to win by getting better in everything we do.
“In that sense it’s a unique game. we’re going to do the same thing on Tuesday but with a different lineup…Both of these games are development games and trying to take this team to the next step.”
With an unprecedented and still increasing number of eyeballs on The Matildas these days, Gustavsson is aware that the team still needs to play in a manner that will entertain the fans. The result may not go Australia’s way in this window, but they will still set out to play an attacking game.
“We’re in this together,” he said
“What we can do is to make sure the product of 90 minutes of football is as good as possible so that people are going to want to watch us.
“If you look at the goal scoring average in the last year, that says a lot about what kind of product you get when you come and watch the Matildas.
“The on-field stuff is one thing. The other thing is how they carry themselves outside of the field and the role models that they are.
“That’s one of the key reasons why I’m so passionate, and why I love working with this team as much as I do. I think they are such good role models for so many people out there, not just as footballers but as people as well.”
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