AUSTRALIA head coach to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Tony Gustavsson, has praised the performance of his players despite their defeat to the Super Falcons.
The co-hosts were stunned by Nigeria on Thursday as the nine-time African champions came from behind to win the Group B clash in Brisbane 3-2.
The Matildas coach stated that while the result was poor, his team’s performance was not, referencing Australia’s dominant attacking stats, including more possession, more final third entries, and more than double the shots.
“I’m actually not that disappointed about the performance, but I’m disappointed by the result,” Gustavsson said in Brisbane.
The result leaves Australia in third place in the group behind Nigeria and Canada, and the Matildas will be eliminated if they do not beat the Olympic champions on Monday.
“I think that might be one of the most important questions for me as a leader right now,” he said when asked about how the team would get back on track before the encounter with Canada.
“Physical recovery is one thing, but the mental recovery as well to bounce back [is important]. But the one thing we know with this team, and we saw it the last 10 to 12 minutes of this game, is that never-say-die attitude when we’re up against the wall.
“They came out and played good. They’re brave and they gave it their all, all the way through, and almost got the tie today.”
Gustavsson insisted that his side possess the ability to recover and get the result they need against Canada, especially with talismanic captain Sam Kerr set to feature after missing the first two games due to injury.
“It’s definitely one of the biggest and most important things we have to do right now is to bounce back and just see the truth right in front of us – it’s a must-win game against the Olympic champions in the last round of the group stage to get out,” he said.
The Super Falcons are ranked 40th in the world, 30 places below Australia, but Gustavsson said that the way they played was not a surprise, but their plan to use pace in transition worked.
“I said before the game that I knew that they had some really tough attacking threats,” he noted.
“Oshoala on the bench was maybe a surprise. I think they wanted to use the speed against our centre-backs in transition.”
He explained that the Super Falcons used their pace in order to punish the Matildas with the second ball. He added that all three Nigeria goals were the result of second-phase play.
