Here we go again. For the third match in a row, the Matildas face a do-or-die moment. Win and the dream stays alive, lose and it is all over.
Such is the nature of the World Cup, these beguiling moments every four years that take fans, entire nations even, from the depths of despair to the highest heights of ecstasy. Everything turns on these 90, 120 or more minutes on Saturday afternoon. The hopes and dreams of Australia on the shoulders of 23 women.
At this stage in a World Cup, there is no easy encounter. Every team is riding a wave of momentum – otherwise they would not still be in the tournament. Every team is beginning to wonder whether they can go all the way. For all the platitudes about taking it one match at a time, by now teams are beginning to wonder what might be possible.
For Australia, as co-hosts, the excitement is even greater. Green and gold colours are ever-present: scarves on the train, banners in the streets, display advertising wishing the Matildas well. A nation gripped by football fever.
For the Denmark clash in the round of 16, Australia’s leading investigative news program, ABC’s Four Corners, released a much-anticipated episode early because producers knew they could not compete with the Matildas. Ahead of Saturday, the AFL is making concessions to ensure fans can catch the quarter-final. For longsuffering fans in a nation where football plays second fiddle to AFL and rugby league, a decade of Christmases has come all at once.
Standing in the way of the Matildas’ hype train, in Brisbane on Saturday as the late afternoon sun turns to twilight, will be the French. Les Bleues are ranked fifth in the world, compared to the Australians at No 10. The Matildas beat France in a World Cup warm-up match – which feels like a lifetime away but was less than a month ago. But make no mistake: this is the Matildas’ toughest match of the tournament yet.
France bring lethal attacking threat. Striker Eugénie Le Sommer has scored three goals so far in Australia; Selma Bacha has recovered from a knock suffered in the friendly to find devastating form. Kadidiatou Diani nabbed three against Panama and another in the last 16 clash with Morocco. The Matildas defence has been robust this tournament, conceding only in the group stage loss to Nigeria. But the French attacking line will pose a challenge of a higher magnitude.
French fans might fear the same thing. The Matildas looked potent against Olympic champions Canada, and classy going forward for large patches of the win over Denmark. Caitlin Foord is in career best form out wide; Kyra Cooney-Cross is playing her way towards a major European club deal in the midfield. Plus Sam Kerr is back – although whether as a starter or off the bench is unclear.
“It’s a scary thought now – to add [Kerr] to the arsenal that we already have,” teammate Emily van Egmond said of Kerr’s return. “No matter what role Sam plays, she is a proven gamechanger.”
And so Australia readies itself for arguably the most important match in Matildas’ history – a quarter-final on home soil. They have been here on three previous occasions – twice when the World Cup was smaller, and it was the first stage of the knockout rounds. But only once having won through a last 16, in 2015 when the Matildas beat Brazil but then lost to Japan in the last eight. Saturday offers a history-defining moment, a chance to go further than the team have ever gone before – and in front of 50,000 cheering fans.
This week, Upfront, an English women’s football podcast, highlighted the strange mix of emotions being experienced in Australia right now. The host, Rachel O’Sullivan, recalled overhearing some Matildas faithful discussing the team. The fans had suggested reaching the quarter-finals had just met expectations, whereas going beyond would be monumental. There was, she implied, some cognitive dissonance at play. “Quarter-finals, absolutely bare minimum,” O’Sullivan said, laughing. “Semi-finals, bloody hell you’ve over-achieved.”
Sometimes it takes an outside observer to see the absurd. Yet those fans are not wrong either. It may be illogical – but that is football for you.
Had the Matildas lost in the round of 16, it would have marked disappointing underachievement from a golden generation of players at a home World Cup. This quarter-final match-up is about par for the team – losing to France on Saturday would be heartbreaking for many, and there would still be some questions for Gustavsson and his charges to answer, but perhaps no full-throated public inquisition.
Win on Saturday, and talk of parades and public holidays will enter full swing. The football mania of recent weeks will be nothing on what next week could hold if the Matildas progress to the semi-final, where England or Colombia would await.
All of which brings to mind manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous outburst: “Football – bloody hell.” Whatever the result on Saturday, expect plenty more expletives.
