First sign things are wrong with Matildas after Germany defeat at Paris Olympics
The Matildas have been torn to shreds after their Paris Olympics campaign got off to the worst possible start on Friday morning.
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The Matildas have been torn to shreds after they were put to the sword by Germany in a first-up hammering at the Paris Olympics.
The 3-0 result at the Stade de Marseille leaves Australia’s campaign on the ropes already with two more games to come in the group stage.
The damning first-up display left a big cloud hanging over the team with former Wallabies great Greg Martin going scorched Earth over the lacklustre outing.
“Our defenders were so lazy it was like they had lead in their feet,” Martin said on Triple M Brisbane.
“Quite simply, the Matildas have become the Brisbane Broncos. Their heads are so far up their bums they’ve believed in their own hype.
“Every single photo I’ve got (on Instagram) is of them drinking a cocktail on either a beach or a nightclub in the last six months and haven’t been doing the hard work.
“They think you’ve just got to turn up and what happened at the World Cup, those performances will just replicate themselves.
“And do they? No.
“I’ve had a gutfull.
“The harder you work, the luckier you get and right at the moment it appears that the Tillies don’t appear to be working very hard.”
Matildas captain Steph Catley said after the game the performance wasn’t to her team’s “standards”.
“It’s definitely a wake up call,” she said on Channel 9.
“That’s tournament football. We’ve got two more games and we’ve got to turn it around quickly. We’ve got a lot to learn from here. I think at times we were on top and we let two set pieces affect the game in a very negative way.”
Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson issued an apology to the fans following the loss which puts the Aussies behind the eight ball.
“I just want to say I’m so sorry to let down the fans back home,” Gustavsson said.
“I know we disappointed a lot of people.
“The one thing I know about this team is that when they’re backed against a corner and there’s a lot of s*** thrown at them with curve balls and different ways, a loss three-nil or baggage going missing … they never use these things as excuses.
“This side is so physical normally, we win all the one-on-one duels, there’s aggressiveness there, we’re running and our speed beats teams. But it wasn’t really there tonight.”
Where it all went wrong for the Matildas
Even more concerning than the scoreline — which leaves Australia in trouble of missing out on a spot in the quarter-finals even as one of the potential top two third-placed teams across the three pools — was the manner at which the goals were conceded.
The first sign that things are wrong with the Matildas came early in the match when Germany took the lead in the 24th minute.
A nice deep corner kick from Giula Gwinn was well met by a charging Marina Hegering, who headed the ball past goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.
The towering German defender jumped over the top of Alanna Kennedy after she was able to push past Ellie Carpenter and thundered the ball into the goal.
Australia conceded twice from corners and on both occasions their opponents were able to find someone unmarked in the box.
The second goal came in the 64th minute when Lea Schueller got onto the end of a corner kick unmarked after a darting run near the penalty spot.
The third goal further reflected Germany’s dominance, coming just moments later in the 67th minute when Julie Brand finished off some sweet passing from her team.
The Germans also came close to a fourth as Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson’s substitutions failed to change the momentum of the match.
The poor defending from the first goal summed up the Matildas’ performance.
Even more concerning was the furious facial expression Kennedy flashed Carpenter after Hegering’s opening goal.
The greasy look did not go unmissed by Channel 9 commentator Brenton Speed who asked Matildas great Grace Gill: “A look around the shoulder of Alanna Kennedy towards Carpenter, does that suggest the centre half thinks the right back is at fault there?”
Channel 9’s commentary team was scathing of how easy Germany was able to break down Australia with its set piece moves.
“To concede on a set piece, that’s got to sting for the Matildas,” Amy Chapman said.
“It was a lack of concentration particularly at that far post. It was a really simple chipped in corner and at the international level you do not concede those. A bit of ball watching at the back post.”
Socceroos legend Craig Foster responded: “Alanna and Ellie got themselves mixed up there.
“Ellie was going the wrong way and her defender has come in. Her body position, she wasn’t quite able to see.”
Chapman went on to say it was “obvious” the Matildas were “outclassed”.
It was an emphatic response by Germany after they suffered their worst ever result at the World Cup in Australia last year.
Australia next plays Zambia at 3am on Monday morning (AEST), before its final pool game against the USA on Thursday.
Germany, the 2016 Olympic gold medal-winners, face the USA next after the Americans banged in three first half goals against Zambia in their tournament opener.
Originally published as First sign things are wrong with Matildas after Germany defeat at Paris Olympics
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