Impetus’ Ben Gilby was present at both Australia’s friendlies against Wales in Cardiff and England in Derby over the past few days. He assesses what he saw (29/10/25).
Above: The Matildas in the huddle at Derby’s Pride Park Stadium against England. Photo: Football Australia.
Whilst a red card and a 3-0 loss to England may take the headlines from this latest Matildas international window, a lot more happened than those two facts. The events in Cardiff and Derby need to give coaching staff and players a heap of learnings for what is to come.
Saturday’s 2-1 win against Cymru, as the FA of Wales now encourage all media to refer to their national side as was an important one – and it probably offered a more realistic insight into where the Matildas are right now.
That’s not to say we ignore what happened last night against England – absolutely not – but it served as a game against one of the best sides in the world at the present time, and the reality was Australia were fighting against them with one hand tied behind their back after that early red card for Alanna Kennedy.
Let’s take both games separately in terms of what, for me, stood out for the Matildas.
Cymru: a win with errors
Saturday’s game in front of a record crowd to watch a women’s international match in Wales of 11,173 opened this international window for Australia.
There were three takeaway points from the game in Cardiff for me: the evolving new style of play that Joe Montemurro is introducing, the impact of errors that bedding it in are causing, and the real growth shown among some of the newer players in the squad.
The Matildas were looking to play a snappier brand of one-touch passing football to carve through the Cymru midfield. This is an excellent use of the ball-playing skills and vision of a reunited Kyra Cooney-Cross and Katrina Gorry. It was also no coincidence that both Hayley Raso and Kaitlyn Torpey were enjoying their best performances in an Australia shirt for some time as a consequence.
When it worked, Australia were a joy to watch, with fast pace and power. However, it’s fair to say that it felt like passes only really reached their intended place around 60% of the time, which kept Cymru in the game longer than they really should have been – and made for a more transitional game than Montemurro would have wanted.
The danger of turning over possession when playing rapid one-touch passing football through the midfield is that the opposition are very quickly able to attack and penetrate your own defence. Australia were lucky that Cymru do not possess a top-class international-level striker, otherwise they would have been in trouble.
This tactic is likely to work well in the Asian Cup for the earlier stages of the competition and against the vast majority of likely opponents. However, against a side as technical as Japan, the Matildas would need to employ this game play with a far greater success rate of passing, or else run the risk of getting cut to ribbons.
Torpey was sensational, particularly in the first half. She was a creative ball of energy along the right, bringing those around her into the game with intelligent passing and looking to beat her defender to develop balls into the box.
Amy Sayer’s appearance as a substitute was also significant. Her tenacity and ability to both win back possession and set attacks in motion were key to Australia’s recovery from 1-1 to win the match.
At the back, Winonah Heatley was calm and measured – in control of what was going on around her.
England – victims of circumstances
Much was made ahead of this game of the benefits to the Matildas taking on England – they know so many of England’s most dangerous players so well due to playing with them in clubland.
Whilst this was undoubtedly true, so was the reverse. Something that wasn’t quite mentioned as much.
Australia’s key creative outlets – Katrina Gorry, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Caitlin Foord, Sam Kerr, Ellie Carpenter – all based in the WSL, and all facing teammates coming up against them with the inside knowledge on how to try and contain them, backed up by England being arguably the leading statistical, tactical analysis nation in the women’s game.
Then throw in the fact that England put in a below-par performance against Brazil in Manchester on Saturday. The Lionesses just don’t do two consecutive disappointing performances. Just think back to the Euros and the difference from the opening game against France to the thrilling attacking display against the Netherlands in match day two.
Sarina Wiegman also brought several hungry new faces into her starting line-up – admittedly due to injury – but nonetheless, Lucia Kendall put up a real fight against Ellie Carpenter, and Taylor Hinds was composed as well.
Lionesses history shows that when England want to put right the wrongs of a previous performance, they start like an express train, and, fittingly in a city with rich railway heritage, they did just that last night.
Australia were forced on the back foot from the off – but if any team are capable of weathering a storm and then settling into their groove, it can be The Matildas. But, the second Alanna Kennedy fouled Alessia Russo, realistically, the game was up.
The Lionesses are just too relentless, too clever, and too driven to pass up the opportunity to dominate a team that has lost a defender. There was a depressing air of what was to follow as soon as the red card was brandished.
The Matildas’ tactics were to try and avoid meeting runners immediately in order to keep numbers in the box. Whilst this was a laudable idea against a side with penalty box predators like Russo, it reckoned without the rapid ball playing ability, and high quality, low angled passes behind the Matildas’ defence which kept England in the forefront of the attacking momentum.
On a night when Australia badly missed the outlet and talent of Mary Fowler, the Lionesses tied up Kyra Cooney-Cross with two players smothering her whenever in possession. Caitlin Foord was similarly put at arm’s length.
Of those who showed great promise against Cymru, Amy Sayer started. This was a game for Sayer that will be key for her development at the highest level. She was pressed and harried as never before by the Lionesses, and she will have learned a lot from the game.
Whilst Torpey was absent, and her influence from the Cymru game sorely missed, Wini Heatley was given a deserved starting berth. The 24-year-old played with a maturity way beyond her number of caps. Calm in the face of intense pressure and able to take control of situations of extreme danger, Heatley showed that she is made for this level. Out of a disappointing 3-0 loss came a positive – the potential of Wini Heatley.
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