Matildas demolish the Philippines but coach Tony Gustavsson’s future remains uncertain

The Matildas have taken another step towards playing at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Sam Kerr celebrates scoring for the Matildas against the Philippines. Picture: James Worsfold/Getty Images

Proud coach Tony Gustavsson has praised his Matildas side for ignoring the “noise” linking him to the USA job and taking another step towards qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games with an 8-0 demolition of the Philippines on Sunday.

Hometown hero Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord each scored hat-tricks as the full-strength Matildas ran riot in front of almost 60,000 fans at Optus Stadium.

The win moved Australia, who fielded an experimental 11 in their 2-0 victory over Iran last Thursday night, to six points from two Group A games in the second round of AFC Olympic Games qualifiers.

The winners of each of the three second-round groups, as well as the second-placed team with the best record, will move forward to February’s third round of qualifiers, where two sets of home and away contests will determine the two AFC nations that compete in the women’s football tournament at next year’s Olympics.

However, should the Matildas qualify for Paris, there is no guarantee that Gustavsson will still be their coach.

Despite his current contract not expiring until after the Olympics, the Sweden-born mentor is reportedly on a shortlist for the USA coaching job.

It would be a position close to Gustavsson’s heart as he was previously an assistant coach for the Americans.

Hat-trick heroes Caitlin Foord (left) and Sam Kerr celebrate in Perth. Picture: James Worsfold/Getty Images

Gustavsson said he had spoken to his Matildas squad about the “speculation”.

“I said that there was always going to be noise outside, there was always going to be speculation – that’s how business works,” he told Network 10.

“This group is extremely professional. It hasn’t influenced them at all.

“We have a very good relationship, we know what we’re doing, we focus on the game, one game at a time, one training (session) at a time, and you saw that in the performance (against the Philippines).

“They were focused on nothing else but a good performance here.”

Coached by Western United’s A-League women’s team mentor Mark Torcaso, the Filipino outfit had been expected to provide the Matildas with their toughest Group A test.

But once Mary Fowler gave Australia the lead in the 15th minute, Torcaso’s team crumbled.

It was 5-0 at half-time, with Chelsea star Kerr and Arsenal attacker Foord each netting a first-half brace.

Any hopes of a miraculous comeback from the south-east Asian nation were quashed only minute into the second half when Kerr scored her 68th international goal to complete her hat-trick after being fed by creative genius Fowler.

Foord wasn’t to be outdone, scoring her third goal in the 56th minute to increase the Matildas’ lead to 7-0.

With the job well and truly completed, Kerr was replaced in the 65th minute, as Gustavsson kept good with his promise to manage the skipper’s game time and not play her for an entire match in any of Australia’s three second-round matches, which include Wednesday’s battle with Chinese Taipei at HBF Park.

Despite Kerr having gone off, the Matildas weren’t finished scoring, with substitute Clare Wheeler netting Australia’s eight goal – and her first at senior level for her nation – with a cracking long-distance strike in the 72nd minute.

The only sour note of the night for the Matildas was a hamstring injury suffered by substitute Cortnee Vine.

Having only been on the field for 10 minutes after coming on as a second-half replacement, the Sydney FC star was forced off and replaced by Alex Chidiac.

Originally published as Matildas demolish the Philippines but coach Tony Gustavsson’s future remains uncertain