Matildas The Matildas Thread

[jhong]

Bordering on hilarious our efforts on goal so far . Someone put one in pls ! The lead up play has been very good .

 

[Couch Coach]

View attachment 1541253

Does this draw mean it is possble Australia could face Philippines?

Matildas vs Stajcic?

 

[stax on the mull]

Does this draw mean it is possble Australia could face Philippines?

Matildas vs Stajcic?

Moot point because some people here have been pretty confident for quite a while that Australia won't get out of the group stage. I think we will but we have been defeated by Canada and Ireland during Gustavasson's tenure.

Looking at the teams in group A - I don't think Philppines will progress.

Stajcic's daughter was recently selected in the junior Matildas squad.

 

[swingdog]

Play like we did against Sweden and we'll make it out of the group stage.

 

[jhong]

She's back playing again . Great news for her and the Matildas !

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Cup of Nations in NSW starting in a fortnight and the Matildas named their squad for the competition. Given the proximity of the Cup of Nations to the World Cup (starting in June), you'd think this would be pretty close to the squad that Gustavsson wants to take to the World Cup, although Ellie Carpenter and Kyah Simon are both missing from the squad as they recover from injury.

Name	Position	Club	Caps (goals)
Mackenzie Arnold	Goalkeeper	West Ham United	29 (0)
Steph Catley	Defender	Arsenal WFC	106 (3)
Alex Chidiac	Midfielder	Melbourne Victory (on loan from Racing Louisville FC)	22 (1)
Kyra Cooney-Cross	Midfielder	Hammarby IF	22 (0)
Larissa Crummer	Forward	Brisbane Roar	30 (4)
Caitlin Foord	Forward	Arsenal WFC	106 (27)
Mary Fowler	Forward	Manchester City	32 (8)
Emily Gielnik	Forward	Aston Villa	57 (11)
Katrina Gorry	Midfielder	Brisbane Roar	88 (16)
Charlotte Grant	Defender	Vittsjo GIK	13 (0)
Clare Hunt	Defender	Western Sydney Wanderers	0 (0)
Elise Kellond-Knight	Midfielder	Melbourne Victory	114 (2)
Alanna Kennedy	Defender	Manchester City	108 (8)
Sam Kerr	Forward	Chelsea WFC	116 (61)
Aivi Luik	Defender	BK Hacken	41 (1)
Teagan Micah	Goalkeeper	FC Rosengard	14 (0)
Courtney Nevin	Defender	Leicester City (on loan from Hammarby IF)	18 (0)
Clare Polkinghorne	Defender	Vittsjo GIK	151 (14)
Hayley Raso	Forward	Manchester City	66 (9)
Amy Sayer	Midfielder	Stanford University	6 (0)
Emily van Egmond	Midfielder	San Diego Wave FC	124 (30)
Cortnee Vine	Forward	Sydney FC	11 (2)
Clare Wheeler	Midfielder	Everton WFC	11 (0)
Tameka Yallop	Midfielder	SK Brann	109 (12)
Lydia Williams	Goalkeeper	Brighton & Hove Albion	102 (0)

 

[swingdog]

Pretty much.

Personally, would have been tempted to throw in some wild cards to replace players like Gielnik and Crummer, who really shouldn't be anywhere near the national squad.

Carpenter will be back in for Hunt. Not convinced Simon needs to be back at all.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Pretty much.

Personally, would have been tempted to throw in some wild cards to replace players like Gielnik and Crummer, who really shouldn't be anywhere near the national squad.

Carpenter will be back in for Hunt. Not convinced Simon needs to be back at all.

The other player that is not in the squad that is at least with a shout of making it for the World Cup is Chloe Logarzo. I watched her play for Western United when she came on as a sub against Melbourne City Women's in the curtain-raiser before the infamous derby match. Logarzo was a class above most of her teammates and basically won the match for Western United. I'm not a major fan of Logarzo, but I think she'll be in the mix for a place in the squad.

I think Simon will be a lock to make the squad. I don't see Amy Sayer making the final cut. Barely seen much game time in her six caps for Australia so far and she's playing college football in the USA.

I think Gielnik has been unlucky under Gustavsson. Gets called up for squads and then barely plays (I don't think she played a minute in the Asian Cup last year) and I think she offers something different; under Milicic it seemed like it was Gielnik versus Raso for the right wing spot, but Raso is clearly ahead of Gielnik under Gustavsson, but Raso is injury-prone and can get knocked off the ball pretty easily, whereas Gielnik is more physical and capable of holding her own against some robust defending. I agree that Crummer should not be near the squad.

 

[stax on the mull]

Hunt's a central defender, so I think that they might looking at her as an option to provide back up in the World Cup squad.

WSW haven't lost a game in 4-5 matches after not winning an A-League game for over a year, but their defence this year has been pretty tight and Hunt has been at the heart of that. I think there's only been one game early in the season where the score was Newcastle 4- WSW 2 where there has been a blowout. Probably like the previous selection of Matilda MacNamara, Hunt won't get much of a look in, especially with Kennedy back for the 1st time in while. I saw a week or so ago that Kennedy got a player of the match nomination in a Man City game.

I've watched quite a bit of vision of Kellond-Knight in Melb Victory broadcast games recently and while her skills and decision making are pretty sound, she is coming from a long long way back and I'm not sure she'll make it. She'd be in the running as a back-up in that role that Gorry now plays as first choice and I guess Wheeler and Yallop have played a little there as well. I think that's the only reason KK gets selected ahead of other mids in the A-League this time- and maybe because she's there for the squad to mentor other players at training camp with her experience. The other player who I reckon has been doing quite well in that position in recent matches is WSW's Amy Harrison = but when she runs she still looks a bit wobbly with those knee recos she's had on each leg.

Logarzo is out with a foot injury and hasn't been named in the Western United squad for this weekend.

Quite a few girls have been scoring goals in the Barclay's League and FA Cup games recently.

 

[swingdog]

Hunt's a central defender, so I think that they might looking at her as an option to provide back up in the World Cup squad.

WSW haven't lost a game in 4-5 matches after not winning an A-League game for over a year, but their defence this year has been pretty tight and Hunt has been at the heart of that. I think there's only been one game early in the season where the score was Newcastle 4- WSW 2 where there has been a blowout. Probably like the previous selection of Matilda MacNamara, Hunt won't get much of a look in, especially with Kennedy back for the 1st time in while. I saw a week or so ago that Kennedy got a player of the match nomination in a Man City game.

I've watched quite a bit of vision of Kellond-Knight in Melb Victory broadcast games recently and while her skills and decision making are pretty sound, she is coming from a long long way back and I'm not sure she'll make it. She'd be in the running as a back-up in that role that Gorry now plays as first choice and I guess Wheeler and Yallop have played a little there as well. I think that's the only reason KK gets selected ahead of other mids in the A-League this time- and maybe because she's there for the squad to mentor other players at training camp with her experience. The other player who I reckon has been doing quite well in that position in recent matches is WSW's Amy Harrison = but when she runs she still looks a bit wobbly with those knee recos she's had on each leg.

Logarzo is out with a foot injury and hasn't been named in the Western United squad for this weekend.

Quite a few girls have been scoring goals in the Barclay's League and FA Cup games recently.

Agree - it'll be Gorry and then KK or Wheeler, depending on fitness and the opposition. Wheeler is the long-term solution.

 

[stax on the mull]

Agree - it'll be Gorry and then KK or Wheeler, depending on fitness and the opposition. Wheeler is the long-term solution.

I was just looking at the line-up against Sweden in November and the starting formation was 4-2-3-1 with both Gorry and Cooney-Cross playing those roles in front of the defenders (Grant-Polkinghorne-Catley-Nevin) and in front of them (Vine-Foord-Raso) and (Kerr).

 

[stax on the mull]

Carpenter getting her first minutes for Lyon tonight coming on for the last 1/2 hour of game time in a match that they were already 5-0 up in (finished 5-0).

 

[Restricted Free Agent]

Hayley Raso has been everywhere tonight

 

[Dixie Flatline]

And the Matildas have been pretty rubbish. Lucky not to be 2-0 down and as usual no cutting edge up front. Fowler has had a shocker.

 

[nobbyiscool]

Second half tonight has been really fun after a turgid first half.

When did Czech Republic become Czechia?

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Tremendous second half. Been much more direct and assertive in the second half. I would happily leave Van Egmond out and take Chidiac to the World Cup. Great game from Cooney-Cross as well.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Big game against Spain coming up. Pretty sure Spain thumped Australia the last time they met.

Just checked. Spain thrashed Australia 7-0 in June last year.

 

[jhong]

The 7-0 loss to Spain was TGs worst coaching effort . Basically sent an inexperienced team out against a European heavyweight, played with a back 5 , and it looked like it was the first time the team had played as a back 5 . It was a shambles. Spain are good , this will be a big test for the Matildas.

 

[swingdog]

Big game against Spain coming up. Pretty sure Spain thumped Australia the last time they met.

Just checked. Spain thrashed Australia 7-0 in June last year.

To be fair, was a development team we put out that day.

 

[stax on the mull]

Best thing about this game was the continued development of Cooney-Cross and Grant. Grant is playing well enough at right back that you could think where else (in a positive way) could you play Carpenter that improves the team when she returns.

Raso probably gets player of the match for her 2 goals and assist but she's still the same kind of player. Heaps of run and energy and causes a lot of panic in the opposition but she really does murder final balls, like the one where she should have slid through to Vine in the first half and her wayward header from a cross that she directed over the crossbar when all she had to do was knock it down to Fowler who was on her own in the middle of the penalty box. Her tackling and winning the ball back was top notch though.

Fowler looked really out of sorts couldn't control the ball or lay off a decent pass. Luik was pretty sloppy too with a few stray passes.

I heard them say just at the end of tonights broadcast that 15 of Spain's best players have opted out because of a dispute between them and the coach. There's a story about it here:

‘A worldwide embarrassment’: Why 15 Spanish stars could sit out Women’s World Cup

Spain has named a second-string squad for their Cup of Nations showdown with the Matildas due to a bitter feud between coach Jorge Vilda and some of their best players.

www.brisbanetimes.com.au

They recently won the under 20s Women's World Cup so I guess they have a bit of depth.

Also the Jamaican striker Bunny Shaw who plays at Man City chose not to come for this tournament.

 

[jhong]

Don't care if it is the 2nd best group of Spanish footballers , want to beat them .

 

[swingdog]

Don't care if it is the 2nd best group of Spanish footballers , want to beat them .

They'll still be very good.

Why Spain's golden generation could boycott the 2023 Women's World Cup

An ongoing dispute between 15 senior Spanish players, the head coach, and their federation could completely derail their Women's World Cup hopes.

www.abc.net.au

 

[jhong]

They'll still be very good.

Why Spain's golden generation could boycott the 2023 Women's World Cup

An ongoing dispute between 15 senior Spanish players, the head coach, and their federation could completely derail their Women's World Cup hopes.

www.abc.net.au

I know . Can only beat who is on the pitch etc .

 

[CURVE]

The linesman has cost at least one goal in the first half.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Please tell me they will have VAR for the Womens World Cup? The “assistant” referee has been woeful tonight, chalked off two good goals at least.

First half was as good as the Sweden game for mine - our best is good enough, just need to be more consistent and less lapses at the back.