World Cup 2023: Matildas look toward Paris 2024 Olympics with bronze-coloured glasses
They’ve lost two bronze medal play-offs in as many years. It’s why the Matildas are counting down the days to redemption in 2024.
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The Matildas have left another major tournament empty-handed but their chance at redemption is less than 12 months away and captain Sam Kerr is more determined than ever to make sure they don’t leave Paris without a medal around their necks.
Kerr has twice in as many years lost a bronze medal match in the green and gold.
The first was at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 – going down to the USA 4-3.
Then the curse struck again in front of a sold out Brisbane Stadium on Saturday night – the Matildas unable to keep up with the physical Swedish side – ending their World Cup campaign with a 2-0 loss.
The 29-year-old was a fresh faced 16 year old the last time the Matildas won a major tournament – the 2010 AFC Women’s Asian Championships.
Kerr, visibly heartbroken, was disappointed with fourth, describing it as the “worst position to come”.
The whole tournament had been a rollercoaster for Kerr. She missed the first four games with a calf injury, came off the bench for an epic quarterfinal with France, lost a semi-final to England (despite scoring an impressive goal) and then the heartbreak of losing another bronze medal game.
But the Chelsea striker said the team would pick themselves up and be ready to go again – first for the Olympic qualifiers in October and then the Paris Olympics in 2024.
“It’s crazy,” Kerr said. “We have a major tournament nearly every year.
“So that’s the great thing about football, it keeps moving forward. We have to pick ourselves up and qualify for the Olympics, first and foremost, but then hopefully give ourselves a shot at going again and making a medal match again.”
Caitlin Foord, was also part of the team at Tokyo that narrowly missed a medal.
“It hurts to be here and get so close and fall short again,” Foord said.
“The exact same thing happened at the Olympics and it was my worst nightmare for that to happen again … and it has happened again.
“We just need to grow and learn from it and never let this happen again.
“I feel like we deserved to get something out of this tournament. I know we have, but personally for us to no have something around our neck is very disappointing.”
Cortnee Vine, who rose to fame after kicking the match winning penalty in the quarterfinal shoot out with France, said she hoped to be selected for the Olympics.
“I think we’ve set the bar with the standard and hopefully we can continue doing it and qualify for the Olympics and then obviously do well,” Vine said.
Lyon star Ellie Carpenter said the loss was too raw to think about the Olympics just yet.
“We’re feeling heartbroken now but fourth in the world is not bad, it’s still amazing what we’ve done,” Carpenter said. “We can hold our heads high but tonight it obviously doesn’t feel like that.
“But there is another major tournament around the corner and I’m sure we will regroup for that.”
Coach Tony Gustavsson made it clear an Olympic medal was his next goal but a “massive amount” of work was needed to make it happen.
“I want to see investment, real investment,” Gustavsson said.
“I love working with this team. I don’t see this as the end of a journey. I see this as the beginning of a journey.”
The qualifiers, which are a round robin series with Chinese Taipei, the Philippines and Ir Iran, will be played in Perth from October 23 to November 1.
Kerr said she was looking forward to playing in front of her home crowd – a chance the Matildas didn’t get this World Cup.
“It’s been a while and we’ve got three games there so we are really lucky,” Kerr said.
“I can’t wait to go back there and play in front of friends and family.”
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