FIFA Women’s World Cup: Robbie Slater on Sam Kerr, Tony Gustavsson and Matildas v England
After being pushed all the way to penalties by France, the last thing the Matildas want is extra-time against England. ROBBIE SLATER breaks down how Australia can beat the Poms.
The Matildas’ best hope of beating England is to play Sam Kerr from the opening whistle.
Kerr is the best striker in the world, and having played for more than an hour in the quarter-final against France in Brisbane, she’s ready to last the distance, including extra-time if it’s needed again.
However, the Australians don’t want another extra-time epic, which is why their captain should start the match.
The Matildas need to put this game to bed as quickly as possible, and their best chance of doing that is by having Kerr on the field straight away.
England is the fresher of the teams. The Lionesses’ quarter-final against Colombia last Saturday night didn’t include extra-time, and the game was played in Sydney, which has eliminated a travel day for the European champions.
Kerr’s combination with the sublime Mary Fowler is the key to unlocking the stingy English defence.
England has conceded only two goals in five matches at this tournament.
However, they are yet to face Kerr, the Chelsea star who gives a lot of the English players nightmares on a weekly basis in the Women’s Super League.
And perhaps also daily at training when you consider that two of England’s defenders who started against Colombia – Millie Bright and Jess Carter – are club teammates of Kerr’s.
Then there is Kerr’s excellent record against England’s goalkeeper Mary Earps, who plays her club football for Manchester United.
In less than three years, Kerr has scored nine goals for either club or country against Earps, who has also had to pick the ball out of the net three more times for goals in which the Australian star has provided the assist.
It’s a mental edge that the Matildas should make the most of. Earps will probably be dreading the thought of another encounter with Kerr.
If that puts Earps off her game, all the better for an Australian side that has shown it also has other avenues to goal apart from Kerr.
They include young gun Fowler.
Yes, she missed some decent chances against France, but full credit to her for stepping up in the shootout and netting her penalty in such a decisive manner. She buried it.
Fowler plays with a maturity beyond her tender years
She has so much time on the ball, and her creative spark should ensure Kerr has plenty of chances to secure the Matildas a berth in Sunday’s final.
And let’s not forget the danger Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso can cause on the flanks.
Overall, it’s an awesome attacking arsenal that could very well be the difference between the teams, particularly considering how much England will miss suspended forward Lauren James.
SACK RACE TO HISTORY: HOW GUSTAVSSON SAVED HIS JOB
There is an image from Australia’s penalty shootout win that sums up this Matildas team and the role coach Tony Gustavsson has played in this World Cup.
In spite of the many question marks Tony has faced this tournament around his substitutions and rotations, or his squad selection of Kyah Simon, the one thing you absolutely cannot criticise is his ability to create a team environment.
This is not a criticism of France coach Herve Renard, this is just an observation, but whenever his team was taking a penalty the camera would flash to a shot of the ruggedly good-looking manager in his crisp white shirt standing completely on his own.
Then when it was Australia’s turn, there was Tony Gustavsson with his staff and all the players with their arms around each other. A team united at all times.
He greeted his players with a smile at every break in play and spoke about doing it for your family.
We always pull threads out of every aspect of the game after the fact, and, let’s be honest, that game could quite as easily have gone the other way, but it didn’t, and that image of Tony arm-in-arm with his team during the 17 minutes of that penalty shootout is at the forefront of my mind as I think about what is still to come for Australia.
EXPERIENCE AMID CRITICISM
Tony was criticised heavily after the Nigeria game. I was critical, but I was not the only one and, to be fair, we were all right to question his decisions that night.
But, you know what, he took it on board and after that game he changed his system.
He has had a tough run as coach. Rewind about 18 months when we had some heavy defeats and there was talk of him getting sacked.
The way he has turned the team around, I think we’ve won 12 of our last 14 games, is a credit to him and what he has been able to achieve.
Now we’re at a World Cup semi-final and the truth is he is the only one in our system who has actually been here before. He knows what it’s going to take to lift the trophy.
He wasn’t the top man when he was coaching with the USA, but he was assistant manager which is very important and plays a vital role to the manager. So he went through this all in 2015 when USA won it, and again in Paris four years ago when USA went back-to-back.
Sometimes when he’s used the term “tournament football” I wouldn’t say I’ve laughed, but it always struck me as an interesting comment. But now I’m sort of getting it.
His experience is showing our players how to handle this journey, because it has not been easy with the pressure and expectation.
The calmest people in Australia after that game against France actually seemed to be the Matildas players.
While everything was delirium around them they were not lost in the moment. Maybe that has something to do with the coaches and the environment Tony has created.
He knows the right things to say and do because he has been there.
He knows what it feels like to win a quarter-final, and a semi-final and play your best football to then win a final.
That is a great experience to have for our team because the job is not done yet.
THE NEXT STAGE
Even though everyone was pushing for Sam Kerr to start against France, not just Australian media but people on the other side like Ian Wright, Gustavsson stuck to his own plan.
But Sam now has had over an hour of high intensity play because of extra time so you think logically now she does start.
Importantly, the England players would have a real fear of Sam Kerr.
They play her every week in the Super League, they know what she is capable of and they know just how hard it is to stop her from scoring goals and influencing the game.
I think the only way Sam doesn’t start is if Tony has studied England’s game and sees something different that he can attack.
The four-day turnaround may decide how many minutes Sam can play, but the fact is she is fit. A calf injury doesn’t last 65 minutes in a game as intense and as fast as the France game if it’s not right.
It’s still a decision he has to make, to upset the side he has started with in the last three games that has done the job or go back to his superstar.
As the only man in Australia to have been this deep at a World Cup, we can trust he will make the right call.
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