FIFA World Cup 2023: Where it went wrong for ‘broken’ Matildas

The Matildas – and Australia – are devastated but there was nothing tactically wrong with this game. But a late change seemed to destroy Tony Gustavsson’s side, writes Robbie Slater.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 16: Mary Fowler of Australia looks dejected after the team's 1-3 defeat and elimination from the tournament following the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Semi Final match between Australia and England at Stadium Australia on August 16, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The dream is over.

We are all devastated. The nation is devastated because the dream was obviously to win this tournament in Australia.

I do believe we were good enough to go all the way, but I just think circumstances played against the Matildas.

To win a World Cup you need so much to go right for you as a team and the Matildas, well they’ve just had too much to go against them.

There was nothing tactically wrong with this game. Nothing performance or effort wise that you can put the loss down to because we created enough chances to win the game, but we just were not as clinical as England to make the most of our opportunities.

This team has done the country proud. They’ve brought Australia together and united our love of football.

But, there is no shame in saying, they were beaten by a better team.

Sam Kerr reacts after a missed chance. Picture: Getty

The loss sets in for young star Mary Fowler. Picture: Getty

THE DESTABILISING LOSS

Alanna Kennedy was definitely missed. She has been one of the most outstanding players for Australia – she has been playing the tournament of her life.

No disrespect to the players who played, but I think that late change took a lot out of the team.

Her presence in the penalty box has been massive in this tournament and a big reason we’d kept four clean sheets.

Clare Polkinghorne coming in, while she is a legend of the Matildas, she had not had a lot of game time so our momentum in defence was broken in that respect.

Communication and urgency was not the same as it had been and we conceded three goals that we probably would have handled in previous games.

Ellie Carpenter (R) was part of the Matildas’ defence that missed the absent Alanna Kennedy. Picture: Getty

EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY DRAINED

I wanted to believe it wouldn’t make a difference, but England had a huge advantage going into this semi-final.

England had played their quarter-final in Sydney, they won in normal time and were able to quickly reset and refocus on the short four-day turnaround.

The Matildas went through an epic against France in Brisbane, extra time and a drawn out penalty shootout full of emotion.

It was a lot to come down from, to recover both physically and emotionally plus also add in the travel to Sydney.

You could see they were a little bit flat compared to the France game.

But when Sam Kerr scored, I thought hang on, we can do this.

That was one of the best goals you will ever see. It lifted everyone and gave us the belief that we could do it.

You just had the feeling that the Matildas would bring it home.

But we conceded too quickly after that and it was just a sloppy goal.

The same thing happened in the other semi-final when Sweden scored, Spain hit back just seconds later and broke their hearts.

That was always the danger for the Matildas. Once they equalised Australia needed to hold firm until the emotions settled, but we couldn’t do it and that third goal was the killer.

Ultimately the Matildas didn’t let anyone down at all, they’ve had a remarkable tournament, it was just England was the better side on the night.

SUCCESS IS COMING

The dream was we would win the World Cup here in Australia, but it was just not meant to be.

For now.

There will be massive confidence in this team moving forward and the entire country will now share the same belief that the Matildas can legitimately go out and win the World Cup in 2027.

With the likes of Mary Fowler on the rise, the Matildas have success in their future. Picture: AFP

We must now aim for winning tournaments, that is the target this team can aspire towards.

Yes, the next World Cup is four years away, but the Paris Olympics are next year and this team can win the gold medal.

The Matildas will remember the pain of a semi-final defeat like this and carry that as motivation into 2024 and beyond.

I hope Tony Gustavsson stays around for next year. I think he proved the way he turned it all around during this tournament after that Nigeria game that he can get the job done with this team.

He still has a job to do on Saturday night against Sweden in the third place playoff. We can still finish the tournament on a high.

And the ultimate dream … it is closer than any of us ever imagined. We will get there one day.

Originally published as FIFA World Cup 2023: Where it went wrong for ‘broken’ Matildas