By Greg Baum
The Matildas’ preparations for a home World Cup next year received a mighty fillip at AAMI Park on Saturday when they thrashed No.2 ranked Sweden 4-0. It was only their second ever win over the Swedes – their semi-final conquerors in last year’s Tokyo Olympics – their biggest ever win against top five opposition and their third win in a row against all-comers as momentum builds.
Just as pleasing as the result for Australian soccer was the crowd figure: 22,065. They finished the match clapping along to choruses of Waltzing Matilda. Whether you saw this day’s three-sport jam in Melbourne as a carnival of women’s sport or a showdown between codes, FFA will be well pleased.
Pre-game, coach Tony Gustavsson said that in this friendly, the score did not matter so much as the way they played, and a clean sheet did not matter as long as Australia scored goals anyway. In the end, he got to have his cake and eat it, too.
There were goals aplenty: a classic striker’s touch from the talismanic Sam Kerr, one for substitute Mary Fowler from a deflection, but above all a brilliant brace from Caitin Foord, making five in three Matildas games for the Arsenal striker, who is in the form of her life.
Caitlin Foord celebrates after scoring a goal. Credit:Robert Cianflone, Getty
For the first, she cut inside to curl a shot inside the far post, before slipping between two defenders to make good substitute Emily van Egmond’s through ball. Post-match, Foord said the key to her irresistible form was that she had had an off-season for the first time in years and with it a chance to “miss the game”.
At the other end, Teagan Micah kept the Matildas’ first clean sheet since January.
The Matildas set out in their trademark high-tempo, hard-pressing way. But the Swedes with their more measured and precise method made the better chances in the first half-hour, and Gustavsson, honest to a fault, said his team could easily have been a goal down.
“The first goal in international football is massive,” Gustavsson said. Kerr scored, arriving at just the right moment to poke home Hayley Raso’s pass after 38 minutes, and the game changed for good. A change in formation fortified the change in mood, and the Matildas dominated the rest of the afternoon.
Gustavsson was satisfied, but not deluded. “It was a very equal game, but we were clinical in the final third,” he said.
Gustavsson said that although this was a friendly, the crowd made it more like a bona fide World Cup rehearsal, which made the result more pleasing for him and depressing for counterpart Peter Gerhardsson. “It’s a real game. It’s not just a training game,” Gerhardsson said. “We met a very good team today, and we were not good enough.”
Madelen Janogy of Sweden attempts to head the ball through for a goal. Credit:Darrian Traynor, Getty
Gerhardsson paid the Matildas one backhand compliment, saying his team would have to be tougher in the World Cup, even to the extent of earning yellow cards. Australia did.
The Matildas did not relax. In the last five minutes, Kerr could be found working back to snuff out opportunities.
It’s a style that Gustavsson said would take the legs away from even the fittest player. Yet the Matildas finished the match as energetically as they started it, and all the subs, used and unused, took the pitch again at the end for a drill. It’s as if they cannot wait for the World Cup. The fans certainly can’t. But all must.
The Matildas back up to play Thailand in Gosford on Tuesday.
