By Isabelle Campbell 8/7/25
Above: Emily Gielnik against Panama Photo: Rob Lizzi for Impetus
Despite a 1-0 defeat to Panama in Bunbury, Matilda’s head coach Joe Montemurro remains composed and confident as his side prepares for the second match of the series at HBF Park in Perth.
With four debutantes introduced off the bench in the first game and a clear focus on experimentation, Montemurro says the results are secondary to the process at this stage of the team’s evolution.
“Rotating the squad was always prescribed at the start of this little adventure of these four games, and done on purpose, just to see a broad range of combinations and opportunities and it’s been great to be able to do it at this level because we can gauge exactly where we’re at,”
While the scoreline may have the general public questioning, Montemurro is adamant that the outcome served a broader purpose, to gather valuable data and build depth in the squad.
“To be honest I haven’t really looked at it as a loss. I’ve looked at it as more information for us to really go forward, I’ve said all along, we’re trying to obviously lift the way and lift the style and lift the football, and we want to do it without negative results, but it’s probably one that, we say, okay you know, some opportunities were given.”
With so many new faces on the pitch, he acknowledged that cohesion was always going to be a challenge.
“Obviously, when you make a lot of changes like that, there is going to be a little bit of instability, but I still have belief in the process and still have a belief in the way going forward and as I said, we’ve got a bank of information that will help us going forward.”
Montemurro was also quick to shut down the idea of judging players too quickly, especially those new to the international stage.
“You give a player one opportunity and you judge them on that, it’s the wrong thing to do. You have to look at the positives, the negatives, and where they can learn,”
Rather than dwell on the result, Montemurro emphasised the value of a game played under these conditions, a low-stakes opportunity to assess players and test combinations.
“You don’t lose, you learn from these situations. It’s the perfect opportunity to learn, because it’s not a do or die game, it’s not a game that we are going to lose points on or lose our status in a competition situation.”
“We’ve focussed on the takeouts of the game because there were some good passages, it just wasn’t continuous enough, and it wasn’t it probably wasn’t at times, football intelligent enough, if that’s the right word to use.”
Heading into the final match of this international window, Montemurro is hoping to see a more polished performance, with improvements in execution and decision-making under pressure.
“I think we go back to the improvement from game one and two, just making sure that we stick to our style, stick to what we believe in. That’s the most important thing, that always has to be the base.”
The squad will be without a few experienced players for the second match, with the departures of Alex Chidiac, Emily Gielnik and Kaitlyn Torpey reducing the group.
Beyond this match, Montemurro and his staff are already keeping an eye on the ongoing AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers, as they prepare for future competitive campaigns.
“Hard to say, but there’s definitely some teams that are showing a lot of promise. I think it’s going to be a very difficult Asian Cup generally and a great tournament. So, we have been keeping an eye on it, and we’ll wait and see who we get drawn and who we’re going to face.”
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