Canada proves too strong for the Matildas for the second time in less than a week

The Matildas suffered a second successive loss to Canada in a disappointing end to 2023.

Matildas midfielder Emily van Egmond searches for possession against Canada. Picture: Craig Mitchelldyer/Getty Images for Football Australia

Tony Gustavsson insisted he was committed to taking the Matildas to next year’s Olympic Games after an otherwise memorable 2023 ended on a disappointing note with back-to-back losses to Canada.

Thrashed 5-0 last Saturday when fielding a second-string team, a near full-strength Matildas outfit again fell short on Wednesday (AEDT) in Vancouver, losing 1-0 to the reigning Olympic Games gold medallists.

While the Australians had a couple of second half chances, they rarely threatened in a lacklustre final outing of a year that was highlighted by them reaching the semi-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The Matildas’ memorable World Cup led to Swedish mentor Gustavsson being linked with the US women’s national team job that has since been filled, and Sweden’s men national team’s coaching position.

However, Gustavsson dismissed the “speculation” despite reports he had held talks with the Swedish Football Association.

“There’s always going to be speculation, especially when you do good things like the Matildas have done,” he said.

“I’m just focusing on the job I have. I’m focusing on the Matildas, and this preparation window has been massive for us.

“I’ve had full commitment every single minute, and so have the players. This was a very good window for us and we learnt a lot.”

Gustavsson said that “for sure” he would still be the Matildas coach for February’s two-legged Olympic Games qualifier against Uzbekistan.

“We need to put things in a little bit of perspective. (It was) a massive year for us, a tremendous World Cup, the October (Olympic) qualifiers were fantastic … and then we said let’s use (this as a) development window here (in Canada).

“We can’t get carried away because the development window has had two losses. We have important qualifiers coming up in February. These were two friendlies.”

Gustavsson’s desire for his side to adopt a new style of possession-based play to give them more versatility ahead of next year’s Olympics again failed to reap rewards on Wednesday, with Canada rarely troubled on an artificial playing surface in front of more than 48,000 fans.

Alanna Kennedy gets set to play a pass for the Matildas against Canada. Picture: Craig Mitchelldyer/Getty Images for Football Australia

As expected, Gustavsson fielded an almost entirely different 11 to the team that started in the embarrassing weekend loss.

Goalkeeper Teagan Micah was the only player to hold her spot, and that was only because of first-choice custodian Mackenzie Arnold’s injury enforced absence from the squad.

Apart from the absence of Arnold and skipper Sam Kerr – who also wasn’t named in the 23-strong series squad due to injury – Wednesday’s starting team was the Matildas’ best possible line-up.

However, despite Australia fielding a much stronger side, the Canadians were deserving winners.

Midfielder Quinn gave the hosts the lead in the 40th minute when she was first to react to a shot from teammate Kadeisha Buchanan that hit the crossbar after the Matildas failed to deal with a corner.

Caitlin Foord and substitute Tameka Yallop, who had come on for midfielder Katrina Gorry, both had chances to score in the second half, but both of their shots flew over the crossbar.

Yallop’s second-half introduction was the only substitute used by Gustavsson despite the Matildas looking tired.

“I wanted to look at this team to see this game out,” the Matildas coach said.

“If it was tournament football maybe it would have looked differently, but today I really wanted this team to see the game through.\.

“Most of them had 90 minutes in them for one game. This might be the only chance we have to play a top-ranked team before the Olympics start and I really wanted to use every single minute for this playing group in the second game to get exposed to this and try things.”

The match kicked off almost 25 minutes due to celebrations for 40-year-old striker Christine Sinclair, who was making her 331st and final appearance for Canada’s national team.

Sinclair was replaced in the 58th minute by another retiring veteran, Sophie Schmidt, to a standing ovation.