‘I want to see investment’: Gustavsson coy on Matildas future, defends lack of squad rotation

Tony Gustavsson has defended his lack of squad rotation during the World Cup and hinted his future as Matildas boss could hinge on how much investment Football Australia ploughs into women’s football.

Gustavsson has been criticised over his reliance on his core starting players and reticence to use substitutions, fielding an unchanged starting XI for Saturday night’s 2-0 loss to Sweden in the third-place play-off.

The move appeared to backfire as his overworked players struggled to match the intensity of the Swedes, with Cortnee Vine admitting “heavy legs” within the squad were a factor in the defeat.

Since his appointment in late 2020, Gustavsson has spoken repeatedly about the need to build depth within the national team ranks, and on the road to the World Cup, coined the oft-used phrase: “It’s going to take 23 in ’23.”

In the end, only 14 players saw more than 30 minutes of game time during the tournament.

Gustavsson claimed that catchcry was never intended to mean that every member of his squad would be used at the World Cup, and argued that keeping his line-ups consistent might have actually been the key behind their historic run to the semi-finals - even if, by that stage, his main players were barely standing.

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson has defended his lack of substitutions and decision to persist with the same 13 players in almost all of Australia’s games.Credit: Getty

“I think it’s a fair question. If I would have rotated a lot of players and then lost, it would be, ‘why didn’t you stick with it?’” he said.

“We’ve had a clear strategy going into tournaments, based on experience, but also based on some stats. If you look at both men’s and women’s big tournaments, and you look at teams that have gone far and won a lot of medals, continuity in the starting line-up and less rotation in rosters has been a success factor.

“We believe in relationships. The more time you spend together, the better you play together. But I also want to say this, with the biggest respect to my game-changers, I’m not criticising them by saying this ... we think it might be the reason why this team [was] able to break barriers and bypass and break records and create history.”

Gustavsson also revealed why Kyah Simon, controversially selected despite having not yet fully recovered from an ACL tear, was never used: the veteran striker suffered another injury setback after the squad replacement cut-off date which meant, at best, she would only be able to take a penalty in a shootout.

Alex Chidiac waits on the sideline to be injected into the game.Credit: Getty

Gustavsson’s contract with the Matildas runs through to the end of the Paris Olympics, but he did not directly answer a question about whether he would see out his deal - or if he was interested in the vacant US national team job, having been floated by World Cup-winning coach Jill Ellis as a possible contender to succeed Vlatko Andonovski, who quit after failing to get them past the round of 16.

“First of all, we know how this business works. The loss today is probably an influence on people’s opinion about me as a coach,” he said.

“From a broader perspective, if we look a couple of weeks ahead when we do a review, like we always do ... that review, I think we’re going to learn a lot about me as a coach, about the team, about preparation, about investment.

“What I can say is I love working with this team. It resonates with me as a coach, their identity and their ‘why’. And I’ve said it before - I don’t see this as an end of a journey. I see it as a beginning of a journey.

“But I also want to be very clear that I want to see investment now. I really do. I want to see investment. And I mean, like real investment, that we’re serious about what we do.”

Pressed on specific areas needing investment, Gustavsson mentioned grassroots, facilities and high performance, and - echoing his Socceroos counterpart Graham Arnold - said the under-23s program was a critical missing link between the Matildas and the lower-age national teams.

“I would love to have a debate and a sit-down in a workshop with all of you and the FA and a lot of people in the grassroots and football in this nation to talk about that, because we have a massive amount of work to do now to capitalise on this,” he said.

“I think it’s a massive achievement for these players, considering the resources ... I think these players have in some way overachieved, if we look at where the players played, compared to the top-10 nations in terms of how many players do we have in top teams and top leagues starting consistently.

“The next thing now is investment, and long-term investment, not just a quick fix ... to really make sure we benefit from this crossroad moment for women’s football in this country.”

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.