AFL great says the reaction to ‘horrific’ Matildas act was ‘soft’
AFL great turned sports commentator Kane Cornes has branded Australia’s reaction to the Matildas’ World Cup defeat as “soft”.
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Divisive AFL commentator Kane Cornes has described the reaction to the Matildas’ defeat against England as “soft” and declared there would have been much tougher scrutiny if it was our men’s side.
The Matildas captured the nation’s heart during their run to the semi-finals of the World Cup but were left ruing a pair of critical mistakes that led to goals in their 3-1 defeat against England.
The most glaring was Ellie Carpenter’s failure to deal with a ball that was pounced on by Lauren Hemp in the 71st minute, which erased the joy of Sam Kerr’s game-tying long-range strike.
It’s seen Carpenter smashed on social media, but Cornes declared the criticism of her “horrific” defending fell short.
Despite acknowledging the world game was “clearly not my full area of expertise”, Cornes called it as he saw it.
“How critical can we be of the Aussies and their defending? We’ve been a bit soft. If this was the men’s side we’d be going extremely hard on the two errors we made … and the ease in which we conceded those two goals,” he said on SEN Sportsday.
“We’ve rightly given the Matildas all the credit they deserve … but that was horrific. That was horrific from what I saw.
“Soccer experts out there, tell me I’m wrong …
“We’ve been a little bit easy on the mistakes we’ve made and somewhat let the players off the hook.”
Cornes suggested Australia’s approach was wrong from the start of the match and also took aim at goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.
“We looked hesitant and not physical. From my very uneducated opinion, you just saw (England’s) intent …
“They weren’t afraid to really get under the skin of us, cop a yellow card, (land a) couple of early fouls on Sam Kerr.
“We looked so hesitant and stand-offish … Is the keeper going to come out and attack the ball physically? She sat back.
“And the error from Carpenter – she butchered it. Absolutely butchered it.”
Australia coach Tony Gustavsson has told his deflated team they have “no time to dwell” on their crushing loss to England, with a third-placed playoff still to come.
Despite the gut-wrenching disappointment, they must lift themselves one last time to take bronze against Sweden in Brisbane on Saturday, with a new legion of fans wanting more.
“I actually said in the circle after the game, it’s an extremely short turnaround to that game,” said Gustavsson, who will be facing his home country.
“I know we’re emotional, but we have no time to dwell on this one. We have a bronze medal game to play. We need to be ready.”
– with AFP
Originally published as AFL great says the reaction to ‘horrific’ Matildas act was ‘soft’
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