The Mary Fowler mystery continues as Matildas turn over a new leaf

How do the Matildas get the absolute best out of Mary Fowler? It’s an enduring mystery that has been tackled by four different coaches now, none of whom has cracked the code to any satisfying degree.

To be fair to Tom Sermanni, he hasn’t had long to figure it out. He’s only known Fowler for a few days and he won’t be in the chair long, with his third stint as Australian coach designed to be a palate cleanser, an interim appointment to wash away the residual pain of this team’s Paris 2024 disaster and the rocky end to Tony Gustavsson’s reign.

But on the evidence of Saturday morning’s (AEDT) 1-1 draw with Switzerland, their first outing since the Olympics, Sermanni is no closer to finding a solution than any of his predecessors. Aptly described by the veteran coach as a “mixed” performance, the Matildas took half a step forward, and half a step back. For a match played in Zurich, it was a fittingly neutral outcome.

Fowler, 21, is a supremely gifted player who has made a superb start to her club season with Manchester City – but at international level, she remains a rocks or diamonds case, who drifts frustratingly in and out of games. The Matildas aren’t exactly flush with truly elite talent in attack – especially while Sam Kerr remains sidelined – and so they can’t really afford for her to be a peripheral figure going forward. But that she was again.

Played up front alongside Caitlin Foord in a 5-3-2 formation rolled out by Sermanni in the first half, Fowler failed to make an impact, isolated from the rest of the collective, although the coach said that wasn’t entirely her fault.

“In fairness to Switzerland, I thought they defended very, very well,” he said.

Mary Fowler warms up before the clash with Switzerland.Credit: Getty Images for Football Australia

“Sometimes you’ve got to give credit to the opposition and what they did. I think for part of the time in our midfield, we didn’t quite work out how to press or when to press. I think the result of that was that Mary never really got a foothold in the game at any time.

“I also thought that a lot of our play actually went down the left-hand side tonight and that didn’t allow her to get on the game and to start dictating the game.

“She’s a very talented footballer and still a young footballer. I don’t want to overexpose her in a sense. It was a game that was difficult for, not just Mary, [but] for our midfield players … [they] made it difficult for us to get some quality possession in there.”

Sermanni will go back, review the tape and try to figure out how to get Fowler the ball more often – but whoever Football Australia chooses as the Matildas’ permanent coach may end up having different ideas. Which is what makes it so hard to assess this game, and however many more will come under Sermanni: they’re essentially in a holding pattern. This team is dying to begin a new era, but they can’t do that just yet, and so any deeper analysis of his tactics is kind of pointless.

The Matildas celebrate Caitlin Foord’s penalty.Credit: Getty Images for Football Australia

Sermanni’s job is to clean up the mess he inherited from Gustavsson and set the table for the next coach to come in. And in that respect, this was at least a nudge in the right direction. As promised, he set the Matildas up in a more pragmatic way, and while the pieces didn’t quite fit together, they took the lead against the run of play just before half-time.

Moments after Mackenzie Arnold saved a one-on-one chance at the other end, Australia surged forward through Foord, who was clumsily brought down in the box by Swiss goalkeeper Elvira Herzog, and then converted the resultant penalty.

They then began the second half brightly – but the way they conceded in the 58th minute was the worst kind of flashback. The Matildas failed repeatedly to clear their lines in defence, with a weak prod by Clare Hunt and a tame header by Ellie Carpenter inviting more Swiss pressure. It eventually told when Geraldine Reuteler drilled the ball home, off Arnold’s outstretched glove, to cruel their ambitions of keeping a clean sheet against the world No.25-ranked outfit.

“I think we had three or four opportunities to actually clear the ball. There shouldn’t have been that danger in the first place,” Sermanni said. “So that was a little bit disappointing, particularly at a time in the game when I felt that we were looking comfortable and controlling the game.”

Interim coach Tom Sermanni.Credit: Getty Images for Football Australia

It could have finished a whole lot worse for Australia, with Swiss substitute Larina Baumann hitting the crossbar in the 90th minute as she almost took full advantage of more sloppy defending.

Perhaps the thing that will be remembered most from this game was the debut of teenage phenom Daniela Galic off the bench for the last 13 minutes. She battled to keep up with the higher international standard but did not look out of place, even though her opportunities were limited; Sermanni said post-match he probably should have put her on at least five minutes earlier. Most astute observers are tipping her to be the Matildas’ next big thing, so get used to the name.

Next up for the Matildas: Germany, the side that gave them a 3-0 first-up spanking in Paris. They will need to improve markedly to avoid a similar outcome on Monday night, when they will also farewell retiring great Alexandra Popp, who will make her 145th and final international appearance.

“We certainly need to step up,” Sermanni said.

“[This] was the first game with the team for a while. The Germany game I think will be an entirely different game … Germany will come out to play more open football, more attacking football. That might actually give us a better chance to play and get the ball and get in possession … [it] makes it a little bit more dangerous defensively, but also might give us more opportunities attacking-wise.”

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