by Ben Gilby (10/4/24)
Above: Matildas boss Tony Gustavsson speaks to the media after today’s game with Mexico. Image: Football Australia.
Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson and Steph Catley both hailed the team for showing tactical nouse alongside their trademark determination to overcome an impressive Mexico side in San Antonio today.
The Central American opposition were full of energy, a rapid defensive press and displayed a rich variety of huge technical skill and ability. Matildas boss Tony Gustavsson was full of praise for both sides afterwards.
“They (Mexico) are tactically sophisticated. When we scouted them, the last six games, I think they played with four or five different formations defensively because they adjust to the opposition…you have some very, very technical players, you look at the wide forwards in their one-v-ones…one player can score from nowhere at all times – you need to be switched on (when playing them.
“I’m really impressed by the project that they are doing. Their commitment, their pressing, their tactical awareness…they really threw a challenge at us the first 30 minutes. We knew it was coming, we had prepared for it, but still we struggled to deal with it, so credit to Mexico for that but that’s also exactly what we needed. I said before this game we were really going to test our limits today. We know Germany are going to come at us flying with pressing (in the Olympics), we know the US are going to come flying at us with pressing.”
Whilst Australia in the past have found it challenging to break down and through a rapid press defensive opposition, the focus on formation and playing style development since the World Cup has seen the team develop new tools in overcoming those challenges. For Gustavsson, the biggest source of pride in today’s game was the ability of his team to think through what was needed for themselves and apply it before he needed to personally get involved.
“Credit to the players, they found a way into the game…they solved it on the park themselves, a very mature team does that, and they did it. We did some half-time adjustments and went out in the second half much more aggressive which we want to see the Matildas be. We were much too passive in the first half…I think the second half might have been one of the better halves with the ball we’ve had.”
“This game was all about the Olympics, not an isolated game…we probably had eight to 10 different variations in formations today in our attacking game. Everything from inverted outside backs to six dropping into the back three to overloading one side and isolating another – there was a lot of different tactics.”
Tony Gustavsson on the changing tactical approaches used to break down Mexico.
The Matildas boss was full of praise for his team’s two goalscorers, Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso. For Gustavsson, Foord is now one of the best players in the world.
“I see a smart player, I see a technical player, but the one thing she has that some smart and technical players don’t have is her commitment to defend. Look at her slide tackles, look at her off-ball work. She is committed like no one else. Combine those two – being technical and competitive – it’s rare.”
With Raso, the Matildas boss saw a player get rich reward for continued focus and application in the face of a lack of game time at Real Madrid: “The mental side of things, you could potentially lose confidence when you don’t get playing time and you could bring that into the lost confidence into the Matildas environment, but every time she comes in here she manages to perform.”
Gustavsson’s final words were for the influence of Ellie Carpenter. In the Olympique Lyonnaise star, he sees a player continually pushing herself and continually adding additional abilities to her game.
“Ellie has really grown in her tactical understanding. We know she is an energiser…but her tactical awareness, when to come inside the midfield, when to stay wide, when to drop down to support. I think Ellie, tactically, did one of her better games. Look at the second half, she was the key to unlock in terms of finding that diagonal pocket break along the line and then running with the ball.”
Matildas captain Steph Catley emphasised the sense of pride she felt in her team being able to overcome a changed defensive formation and an extremely talented Mexico opposition at Toyota Field today.
“It was a great game for us, it was competitive, it was exactly what we wanted out of a friendly at this point of time. We knew they would be challenging with the press, and they pressed aggressively and it requires a lot of composure on the ball, a lot of decision making, a lot of different formations for figuring it out. I think we did that really well and we were brave on the ball.
“It’s hard when you’ve played a familiar backline for so long to change things up – centre back is not my natural position, but I think we handled it well. There were holes in the first half that we have to talk about and work through a bit, but that’s natural when you change things up a little bit.”
The Matildas are continuing to evolve their new style and increased variety of tactical awareness as they head towards Paris. Catley can see the rate of progress in the team and gives credit to head coach Tony Gustavsson for taking the pressure off the players as they develop their tactics.
“We’re at a really good point in terms of where we want to be building towards the Olympics, it’s not about peaking right now. I’m proud of the way we’re playing, we’re trying to be brave on the ball and break through different lines in different ways. There’s still a long way to go and still a lot to assess from this game to get better.
“We had a feeling that if we could play through this kind of pressure (the Mexico press) then we could do it against any kind of pressure, and I think that worked well. Tony (Gustavsson, head coach) always backs us in these friendlies and these situations that if we lose the ball it’s on him and he wants us to play in tight areas and be brave on the ball.”
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