World Cup 2023: How Tony Gustavsson is setting Tillies on path to greatness
Tony Gustavsson has taken plenty of blows in his three years as Matildas head coach. It’s how he’s worn them that’s set the team on their World Cup path.
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Tony Gustavsson has copped more blows than a UFC fighter for 18 months.
Yet he has gracefully absorbed every criticism – almost as if he knew his bizarre and sometimes questionable methods would set the Matildas on a path to greatness.
The Swede took over as the Matildas coach in 2020 after a very successful stint as assistant to Jill Ellis with the US women’s team, which won the World Cup in 2015 and 2019.
Gustavsson’s decisions have been attacked from the start, but the criticism intensified in the lead up to the current campaign.
His decision to rest experienced players against top class opponents in the lead up to the tournament, his selection of injured player Kyah Simon, going to the bench very late in the shock loss to Nigeria, and even his handling of the Sam Kerr injury, have all copped flak from football fans and experts alike.
But former Matildas coach Tom Sermanni, who was an assistant with the Canadian women’s team this World Cup, said he struggled to find fault with Gustavsson’s methods simply because they had delivered results.
He isn’t wrong.
Aside from the hiccup against Nigeria, the Matildas have progressed to the Round of 16 after topping their group.
“If you win games, you’ve made the right decisions,” Sermanni said.
“If you lose games you’ve made the wrong decisions.
“So from that regard he has made the right decisions.”
While working with Canada, which Australia knocked out of the competition with a 4-0 drubbing, Sermanni understood first-hand that it was a tough pool.
“This group was the most difficult in the tournament,” he said.
“You had four teams that were all capable of winning games, four good teams that were not just technically good but physically good.
“Good teams that each brought different dynamics to the group.
“It was really challenging from a tactical perspective but also from a physical one.”
Sermanni said he understood why people criticised coaches and that everyone was entitled to an opinion, but in his view Gustavsson didn’t deserve the heat – this time.
“When you get in a situation where you’ve won the group, and you beat a very good team convincingly, then the answer is obviously what you’ve been doing so far, he’s got it right.”
SHAPING GUSTAVSSON
Gustavsson has a 22-year coaching career, which includes two World Cup wins and an Olympic gold medal while working with the US women’s team under Ellis.
The Swede also coached women’s and men’s teams at a domestic level before taking on the Matildas.
Ellis, now president of the San Diego Wave FC, said Gustavsson was “passionate, tactical, and dogged”.
“Those are the three words that come to mind,” Ellis told ESPN. “Tony is very passionate. As coaches, you all are. You have emotions. I think that’s part of it.
“Many of us way back in the day, we didn’t get into women’s football to make a lot of money. We got in because we love the sport.
“He and I used to sit up late at night talking about the game, tactics, and players. He loves, eats, sleeps and breathes the game.”
Gustavsson is a master tactician and renowned for his football brain.
“He used to say to me: ‘Forward if we can, back if we need’,” Ellis said.
“Neither one of us will want to batten down the hatches and play in our own half. [But] there are moments when you have to do that. And that was one of the things that ... he helped me learn. You have to manage moments of the game.”
It is a philosophy Gustavsson has continued at the Matildas – creating an attack-focused side which likes to drive with the ball and press the opposition high.
TIGHT SHIP
From the outside it looks like Football Australia has closed ranks and kept their players at an arm’s length from the media and fans.
It’s hard to tell whether it’s a directive of Gustavsson and his high performance unit, to help reduce the pressure and burden on players, or whether Football Australia is trying to micromanage a narrative about the Matildas during the tournament.
CODE Sports sought out Football Australia chief executive James Johnson to talk about Gustavsson for this story because he was a member of the team that recruited the coach.
But the FA media department declined the interview because Johnson would not be the only person quoted.
It’s equally as difficult connecting with the stars of the show.
Requests for one-on-one interviews with Matildas players since the team was announced on July 3 have been rejected.
In the six days between the Canada win and Monday’s knockout clash with Denmark, media opportunities have been limited to three days, while the FA does its own carefully crafted interviews with players and releases them to the media.
Gustavsson, like any coach desperate to keep a competitive advantage, has been evasive throughout the tournament.
Like Wayne Bennett he’s mastered the art of saying much but giving away very little.
Insider information is not leaking outside the four walls of the Matildas operation, a clear sign of a team that is united, regardless of the external criticism.
The tactically astute Gustavsson happily took the heat dished out during the Kerr injury saga.
If the focus and blame is on his shoulders, or even Kerr who he knew wasn’t playing the group stage games, the pressure is reduced on the players taking the field.
Sermanni said the strictness and ability to shield the team from any extra pressure was key to the Matildas’ success in this World Cup.
“They’ve been under intense pressure but certainly from the outside what they’ve managed to do well is keep everything working cohesively from within the team,” Sermanni said.
“It is really critical under these circumstances because what can often happen particularly after the result against Nigeria is an off comment by a player or by a staff member or by somebody around the team can suddenly change the dynamics.”
“What they’ve done very well is that they’ve kept everything on track.
“They’ve kept the focus on football.
“They’ve done the managing of the messages very well and that is really critical in those situations.”
Chelsea assistant coach and Optus Sports football expert Tanya Oxtoby said shouldering the burden was part of the head coach’s job
“It’s the head coach’s job to be the face and absorb that pressure and shield the players from as much as possible so they can just focus on their performance,” Oxtoby said.
“And sometimes that can be really, really difficult because you’re absorbing things that maybe you don’t necessarily feel are your responsibility but that’s the role of a head coach.
“It’s definitely, you know, gonna give the players the best opportunity to go out and perform.”
TEAM CULTURE
Gustavsson’s rise to the Matildas followed a very rocky period for Australia after hugely successful coach Alen Stajcic was removed following complaints of a toxic culture within the squad just five months out from the 2019 World Cup.
Stajcic was replaced by Ante Milicic, who took the Matildas to the French World Cup.
The Matildas bowed out in the Round of 16 after losing a penalty shootout with Norway.
Gustavsson took over the following year and, despite not delivering a lot of success, the players all seem to have positive things to say about the coach.
Mary Fowler said it was great to have a coach who had such a “footballing brain”.
“It helps that he can appreciate the technique and the football brain in players which is quite refreshing,” Fowler said in the lead up to the World Cup.
“The team has been doing really well recently and everything has finally kind of clicked within the team and how we play, so I think that has given us a lot of confidence.
“I’m really confident in what this team can do with Tony.”
Charli Grant, who Gustavsson elevated to the squad while star defender Ellie Carpenter was out injured, said the coach had helped turn her into a much better player.
“He instils so much belief in all the players and us collectively as a team,” Grant said.
“He’s been really great for everyone’s development and I’m really looking forward to having him going into the World Cup.
“It’s just been all about trusting the process. We knew it was going to be a difficult road because we were playing against top opposition and that could put us at risk of not getting the best results.
“But it’s been really great that we have had a lot of different players come in and get that experience and I think we’ve grown with a lot of depth.”
Clare Polkinghorne said: “He’s always thinking of ways to improve and what he can do better, and he likes to have things organised. That’s the type of coach he is. He knows what he wants and he comes up with detailed plans of how to get there.”
THE FINAL EIGHT
Sermanni has coached the Matildas twice – in the 1990s and 2005-12.
Gustavsson took over in September 2020, guiding the Matildas through the delayed Tokyo Olympics to this World Cup and, if he sees out his contract, to the Paris Olympics next year.
It has been a rocky road.
The Matildas were defeated by the US in the bronze medal match in Tokyo. They had a shock exit from the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in 2022 when they were knocked out of the quarterfinal by South Korea 1-0. And later that year Spain thumped them 7-0.
Sermanni has crossed paths with Gustavsson many times.
He has no doubt that Gustavsson has the experience and skills to guide the Matildas through the next four World Cup games.
Oxtoby said there was no doubt Gustavasson was under a lot of pressure.
“Some of the external factors with injuries and the squad compilation probably haven’t gone as he would have liked,” Oxtoby said.
“The performance the other night solidified the spirit of the team and where they’re at and I think he’ll probably be a little bit relieved that some of the pressure has been taken off.
“Now he’s just got to try and get the team ready and focus for the next game.”
“He’s very good from a football perspective,” Sermanni said.
“He’s extremely knowledgeable tactically and from a personal perspective, he is a passionate football person, he loves the game, is fully engrossed in the game, he lives and breathes the game.
“He’s undoubtedly got the experience and the track record.
“I would say potentially there could be eight teams that win this World Cup and Australia is one of those teams.”
Originally published as World Cup 2023: How Tony Gustavsson is setting Tillies on path to greatness
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