It wasn’t as attractive as fans may have become accustomed but a mostly second-string Matildas side were able to get the job done against an inferior and increasingly frustrating Iran in their opening Olympic qualifying match. There were glimpses of excitement in the performances some of the newer faces on the field in Perth, but a return to something closer to Australia’s World Cup form will be needed when they face a more ruthless Philippines team on Sunday.
Six players in Tony Gustavsson’s starting lineup had fewer than 25 caps each for the senior national team, and it was that inexperience that held the hosts back from what should have been an onslaught in the first half. Without a doubt there were impressive individual performances – commanding runs through the centre from Clare Wheeler, blistering pace and skill from left wingback Charlotte Grant and attacking potency from 21-year-old Amy Sayer – but without the maturity of more seasoned players to support them in those efforts the effect was tempered.
Matildas coach Gustavsson may have hoped the less inexperienced players would be able to knock over Iran quickly, but at the very least it allowed them game time in a higher-stakes setting than many of them had experienced before – and the chance to prove their worth in an established starting XI.
“As a coach you can give these players a chance in friendlies and that is one thing right?” Gustavsson said afterwards. “But sometimes you need to be brave enough to give them a chance when it means something, and this is really an important qualifier for the Olympics, and see how they react to that. ‘What have you got? Challenge me for playing time.’”
Pairing up in central midfield with the captain in Sam Kerr’s absence, Emily van Egmond, Wheeler provided a quintessential example of rising to the occasion. While Van Egmond mostly sat low and offered pinpoint long balls – including the one to set up Cortnee Vine for Ellie Carpenter’s goal – Wheeler brought the darting runs, turning on the ball and confidently charging through Iran’s near-impenetrable defensive bloc. In the first half her pushes forward were not as fruitful but by the second Wheeler had clearly honed that skill and went tantalising close to scoring with successive forays through the middle all the way to the six-yard box – perhaps then just missing the lethal instincts of Kerr, Caitlin Foord or Mary Fowler.
Gustavsson said he had told his players to be “brave” through the middle in this game, and that’s exactly what Wheeler did, who along with Sayer he singled out as making strong cases for their future selection.
“I think Clare Wheeler was outstanding, he said. “And I think Amy Sawyer, especially in the second half, should have had a couple of goals. She showed me the things that we’ve seen in Sweden [at her club] and in training with U23 [national team].
To her credit, Sayer used her omission from the World Cup squad in July to fire her growth on the pitch, which has clearly worked to great effect. It spurred her to fast-track her graduation from Stanford where she was playing at an amateur level and make the move to the Damallsvenskan in Sweden where she has since featured regularly for Kristianstads.
“This is the first time I’ve come into [Matildas] camp as a professional player rather than an amateur,” she said. “After just missing out on the World Cup and being in the Melbourne camp and seeing how I could contribute … I really wanted to be in the team for that.”
Sayer, Wheeler and others will be seen again this tournament, but likely from the bench with more familiar faces set to return to the starting XI for Sunday’s clash with the Philippines. “You will see a lot of new faces in that lineup compared to tonight,” Gustavsson said. The Philippines’ 4-1 over Taiwan puts them in the top spot in the group going into the second round of games, and their ability to bounce back after going a goal down in the second half speaks to a ferocity the Matildas must take seriously at Optus Stadium.
It may have ended with an unremarkable scoreline, but Gustavsson saw enough to believe the Matildas are in a good place going into the game against a much more organised and aggressive Philippines team. “I think there were periods in there where we got dispossessed in tight areas, but I also think there were more sequences tonight than any game before with good combination play,” Gustavsson said. “There were bits and pieces that were very good, and we need those pieces now to then look at it and say, ‘can we do that more often?’ I think we took a step in the right direction. And we’re on to something we just need to do it more often and better.”
