Robbie Slater: Olympic heroes show Matildas how far from ultimate success they really are
The Matildas don’t need to look further than the Olympic village for an idea of what it takes to be the world’s best, writes ROBBIE SLATER. And it’s time Football Australia takes responsibility if they’re ever going to get there.
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The Australians who continue to earn medals at the Olympic Games should serve as a painful reminder to the Matildas, and Football Australia, of what’s required to taste success.
The constant narrative out of the Matildas camp since last year’s Women’s World Cup was that the team was sick of finishing in fourth place at major tournaments, and that the players were desperate to claim a medal in Paris.
However, talk has proven to be cheap judging by the Matildas’ failure to even qualify for the quarter-finals at the Olympics.
To finish on the dais, the team needed to prepare properly, which it obviously didn’t, and that’s the fault of not only the players, but the coaching staff and FA as well.
In June, after the Matildas’ two matches against China, instead of continuing to prepare for the Olympics, the players were given a few weeks off, with photos of them on beaches surfacing on social media.
Is this the way to prepare for the Olympics? Do you think other members of Australia’s entire Olympic Games team across all sports were doing this so close to the Games?
No, they were in training and preparing hard, and are now reaping the rewards.
And then when the Matildas did enter a pre-Games training camp in Spain, why were families allowed to be there with them? Is that the way to prepare for the Olympics?
These are all questions that FA chief executive James Johnson needs to answer when he fronts the media on Sunday.
We also deserve answers on a few other things.
What happened to the second warm-up game the Matildas were supposed to play, against New Zealand, in the camp?
Maybe had that match been played, they wouldn’t have been saying after their tournament-ending 2-1 loss to the United States that they were finally getting better.
And in the wake of revelation from anonymous players that things had been a “nightmare” under coach Tony Gustavsson for four years, we need to know why this wasn’t addressed earlier.
After the Matildas’ poor display at the 2022 Asian Cup and failure to finish in the top three at last year’s World Cup on home soil, in which they lost three of their seven matches, post-tournament reviews took place.
Why then were the players’ issues with Gustavsson not addressed in those reviews? Why is it only coming to light now? Is this just the players passing the buck? Or did the FA know about it, and just sweep it under the carpet because of the cash that was coming in due to the team’s undeniable popularity?
Before the Olympics, there were also strong rumours that Gustavsson had already been appointed as assistant coach of Sweden’s national men’s team.
If that was indeed the case, and FA knew about it, why would Gustavsson be allowed to coach the team at the Olympics? Didn’t FA take note of the Eddie Jones debacle at last year’s Rugby World Cup?
There’s a lot of explaining to do after a horrible month for FA, the Matildas and the now departed Gustavsson.
For once in Australian football, there needs to be some accountability for the myriad of problems plaguing our game.
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