Rearguard Revision
Ahead of their upcoming friendlies against Brazil, an analysis of the Australia Women’s National Team first football minutes post Olympics. The defence continued to remain in the spotlight for the Matildas, with a 3–2 loss against the Republic of Ireland.
In the afterglow of the Matildas’ historic Olympic run, sights are already being set on what’s coming on the football horizon.
“Where do we need to be in ’23 on home soil?” national head coach, Tony Gustavsson, rhetorically asked post-Tokyo 2020. “Where are the ‘one day better’ improvements we need to do in every aspect of the game?”
Despite an impressive showing at the Summer Games, the Australia Womens football team are right back into preparation mode, ahead of the Asian Cup in January. The big one comes just one year later, when they host the World Cup in 2023.
“I want to see answers when it comes to some new players.” Gustavsson envisioned, in his pre-match interview with Channel 10 before the most recent friendly against The Republic of Ireland, “But also, I want to see some improvements in the areas that we analysed from the Olympics, especially our pressing and defending game.”
What he will have seen, is that further improvements are still required in this part of the Matildas’ game.
Throughout the Gustavsson-era, the Matildas have had challenges keeping the ball out of the back of their own net. Their first two matches under the Swede head coach yielded 10 goals against, and they conceded 3 or more goals in half of their matches at the Olympics.
A particularly disturbing trend with their defending has been the number of shots, chances and goals created by the opposition from crosses — balls played from the flanks of the pitch towards the Matildas’ goal area, whether from open play or set piece situations.
Granted, there is surrounding context in the defending of these types of attacks which needs to be taken into account; the particular game state or situation, what has happened in the lead up to the cross, as well as the tactics those outside the locker room will not always be privy to, such as whether the team are setting up to man-mark specfic players, or cover a particular zone, for example on corners.
However putting this aside, dealing with crosses generally adheres to a few fundamentals — namely, tracking the ball as it comes into the box, and taking responsibility if it comes in view of your designated assignment.
Unfortunately the Matildas continued to bleed these types of chances against the Republic of Ireland.
Defending a corner in the 23rd minute, the Australians set out a fairly structured combination of zonal and man-marking; players (marked blue) patrolling areas along the width of the six-yard line, as well as a further three (yellow) opposed to their Irish counterparts in the area.
However as the ball is swung in, Louise Quinn is poorly tracked and able to get up above 3 Matildas — her marker, Mary Fowler, and the 2 Matildas guarding the vicinity of the far post — to head back across goal.
Tameka Yallop’s rushed clearance only makes it as far as Denise O’Sullivan on the edge of the 18-yard line, and her deflected strike results in the second Irish goal.
The third goal conceded was even more egregious.
The same zonal/man-mark mix is employed for a second half corner, this time Emily Gielnik (yellow) tasked with defending Quinn.
Again, not only does Gielnik almost immediately lose her marker, the error is compounded by Emily Checker (blue) misjudging the ball’s flight as it comes into her zone.
Quinn is left with a free header without needing to even leave the ground.
The mistakes weren’t solely confined to corners though.
A first half free-kick from the right wing has the Matildas holding a defensive line near the edge of their area, and Irish centre back Niamh Fahey can be seen initially level with her marker, Chloe Logarzo.
Unforgivingly, the Australian midfielder is delayed in her reaction to the delivery, and it means she is two strides behind when Fahey makes contact with the ball in the box. Fortunately in this instance, goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold manages to just about get a gloved fist on it.
The lapses in concentration also extended to situations in open play.
In just the 2nd minute, Republic of Ireland work the ball down the right side in transition. The Matildas seem to have the situation fairly well covered with defenders behind the ball, and the central midfield pairing of Logarzo and Kyra Cooney-Cross tracking back ahead of the Irish runners moving towards the box.
However when the cross eventually comes in, both Logarzo and Cooney-Cross are caught ball-watching, static in no man’s land.
Heather Fahey is able to make up the ground on the two Matildas, and ghost in between them through to a prime scoring area at the top of the box, though the cross is just out of her reach (immediately after, the Republic of Ireland do force a save out of Arnold after an inadvertent richochet of Logarzo’s trailing arm).
That lack of awareness almost costs them in the 20th minute as well. Logarzo and Cooney-Cross lag behind striker Lucy Quinn as the initial cross is played in from the right.
And though Alanna Kennedy calamitously heads the incoming ball against her own goal post, it’s made worse by both Australian midfielders frozen, having never caught up to the play, as Quinn has a golden, unmarked shooting opportunity which she puts over the bar.
The losses of concentration, and porous defensive lines are concerning, but these are not issues which are unbeknown to the management team.
As Gustavsson disappointingly remarked post-game, “It’s just a reminder that games are won and lost inside the 18 [yard box] and we couldn’t defend our goals the way we normally do.
“I do think we were off from the whistle, I even said it a couple of minutes into the game. We’re late. We’re late to everything and obviously I need to ask myself could I have done something different.”
There are caveats, though, that do provide some hope; this was the first game since the retirements of veterans Laura Brock and Aivi Luik, and the squad for the friendly included four defenders 20 years old or younger. With more time, you would expect better cohesion and adherence to tactical requirements as a whole.
Former Matilda Amy Chapman, speaking to Optus Sport ahead of the upcoming series of matches against Brazil noted, “I think it is true to say [Gustavsson] hasn’t quite found the balance (yet), [but] this is the time you want to be experimenting on those things because you want to have it set in stone come 2023.
“Certainly, they’ve conceded a lot of goals throughout the last sort of 12 months to two years but the Matildas best asset has always been their attack so if you can tighten up that back end then they are always primed for success.”
So whilst there was plenty of promise shown going forwards, particularly from the likes of young guns Cooney-Cross and Mary Fowler, worried glances will be cast on the defence.
The positive is that there is still runway for the Matildas to continue to craft their “one day better improvements”, as they begin this next phase of their journey toward the upcoming major tournaments.
As Gustavsson concluded following the Olympics, “You can win different things. You can win trophies, and you can win the hearts of people.”
The Matildas certainly won the hearts of the country’s population; they progressed further than ever before in a global tournament, and in the process captivated a nation, a record peak of 2.32 million people watching on back home in Australia.
But the Matildas know they cannot rest on their laurels; expectations have been raised, and the standards of play must come up with them.
The goal must be looking at winning the other end of Gustavsson’s quote: trophies.
