Paris 2024: Matildas regroup ahead of do-or-die Zambia clash

Matildas’ star Mary Fowler admitted she was off her game against Germany but said she had hit the reset button ahead of their must win game with Zambia.

The Matildas don’t just need to win against Zambia to keep their Olympic dreams alive – they need to prove to everyone back home they belong on the world stage.

Their 3-0 loss to Germany was a disaster. It wasn’t the scoreline – Germany are ranked No. 4, the Matildas No. 12.

It was the lack of effort, careless passes and inability to have any control over the game that left fans who set their alarms for 3am ropeable.

Mary Fowler described it as “disappointing”.

“I think everyone knows that we didn’t perform to the levels that we wanted to be at,” Fowler said.

“I accept that personally I wasn’t on my top level in that game, so I just want to refocus and be better in the next one.”

Will the Matildas bounce back? Picture: AFP

Just two days after declaring the Matildas weren’t ready – despite their month long lead in camp – coach Tony Gustavsson said he was confident the Matildas could turn it around.

“We lost to Nigeria (at last year’s World Cup), we bounced back from that and played a do or die game against Canada,” Gustavsson said.

“We also look historically, we lost the opening game in 2016 (Olympics) and got out of the group, in 2019 (World Cup) we lost the opening game and got out of the group, 2019 lost the opening and got out of the group, 21 (Tokyo) we lost the opening game and got out of the group – so right not it’s all about making sure we get back on track and get out of the group.”

Matildas conceded two goals off set pieces in their opening game.

Gustavsson said they had once again worked on those situations at training ahead of the game with Zambia.

How far can the Matildas get in the Paris Games? Picture: Getty Images

But the African nation will play a very different style of football to Germany.

Gustavsson said he planned to use the same players from the opening match but hinted at a slightly different formation and tactical set up.

The Swede said no matter what they did it would be impossible to stop the Zambian strikers Barbra Banda and Rachael Kundananji.

“They are the two most in form strikers in the world right now and considering how many goals (Banda) has scored in tournaments before she is a threat,” Gustavsson said.

“The best way to deal with it is to make sure we finish our attack so we don’t get those transitions.

“There will be times where she gets in one on with the keeper – we saw it even against the US, so we need to try and stop it and when it happens we need to be good enough to save it as well.”