Matildas v China – what went wrong?

Australia 1 China 1

What was meant to be a routine victory for the nation’s favourite sporting team in front of yet another sell-out crowd, turned into a footballing lesson from the visitors. Whilst China were never going to dominate the Matildas, they showed how to treasure possession and demonstrated a level of composure that only a handful of their opponents could achieve. It was Michelle Heyman that rescued a point at the death this time in Adelaide, a similar scenario to the Olympic qualifier four years ago in Parramatta when Emily Van Egmond scored a thrilling equaliser right at the end. Our memories are short. China have top quality players. A draw was the right result.

International football is a complicated game. It’s a full time job for Tony Gustavsson and his coaching team, but for the players, this is a part-time consideration and any time that the coaches have with the players offers a very short window to work them into a system. Gustavsson made changes for this one. Every game is a big game for the Matildas, the host city for this one pulling out all the stops to bring the crowd in, but Gustavsson still has to tinker, to find the right blend, and get the right players in the squad of 18 for the Olympic Games in July.

Australia looked bereft of ideas in the first half and there were key players who may have contributed to this. Clare Hunt was welcomed back after injury, and took one of the two pivotal centre back roles in the heart of the defence. From the off, she looked slow in possession, as if she expected more respect from her busy opponents. The pedestrian manner of the transition from the Matildas defence did nothing to open up the game, and when she did look upfield, the distribution was poor. Along with her defensive partner, Alanna Kennedy, it was difficult to see what pass they were looking for when they went long. Hunt’s ball for Tameka Yallop at the back was in between Yallop and Kennedy and China broke quickly, but Clare Wheeler rescued the situation. When Hunt was turned on half way as China broke quickly, she was lucky to escape a yellow card after pulling her opponent back. An absolute tower in the air, China knew they wouldn’t get much change out of the Paris St Germain defender with the long ball, but when she did intercept an aerial ball, the unchallenged header went straight to an opponent. Along with some telegraphed passes to Cortnee Vine on the right wing, and an aimless ball upfield for Michelle Heyman, the first half was a tough watch, but she got an attacking header on Fowler’s free kick that almost fell for Heyman and she looked composed and relaxed throughout. Her head clash with Wurigumula looked nasty, but she was up quickly.

The second half was a lot more comfortable, but it saw Hunt smashed in the face again by Chengshu Wu, and when play resumed, she played a ball out of play unchallenged and seemed a little unsettled. With Alanna Kennedy by now up front in desperation, Hunt looked a little ragged as China forced a two-on-two and almost snatched a second on the break. A tough night for one of our newest superstars, and she will be keen to give a cleaner display against China on Monday.

Central defensive partner Alanna Kennedy was the pivot at the back, the player who looked long when it was on, and had the final say as to where the ball would be played. Her unnecessarily difficult ball for Cortnee Vine was forgotten as Vine did well to control, but Kennedy’s control from a long ball deserted her and she was left fighting to win the ball back. The old adage of keeping the ball moving was ignored, and Kennedy found herself with the ball at her feet on many occasions with no forward options forthcoming. When she did go long, it was aimless, and Cortnee Vine had little chance of making anything from the delivery from Kennedy, the ball cut out before it reached the speedy winger. A miskicked ball out of play under no pressure left her looking at the turf in disgust; she could not blame a bobble for that one.

Into the second half, Kennedy was involved less at the back, and when she moved upfield she coughed up possession on more than one occasion, possession of the ball cherished much less than the opponents. The free-kick opportunity was smashed well over, and she managed to play a horrible pass between Ellie Carpenter and Hayley Raso towards the end which went straight out of play. Kennedy ended up playing up top as the game reached its conclusion, desperation from Gustavsson showing that the game and the result definitely meant something – this was after all good practice for tournament football when results are paramount.

Into midfield we now shift our focus to Cortnee Vine. The superstar right-winger started the game well, doing well to close down defenders and she worked well with Heyman to create good moments of possession that were few and far between in the China half. As the first half wore on, we could see that she was shackled; there was no room on the right and the China defence was onto Vine by the time the long balls arrived at her feet. She started to play the ball too quickly, knowing the challenge was coming. The option of drilling the ball off the defender’s legs for a throw-in to buy some time was never contemplated, and when she attempted to beat a player with pace, there was always a defender behind to clear up the danger. Her first touch was often heavy, not surprising with the passes that she had to field, and she was well marshalled by the swift defence. She started to lose belief and nudging the ball past her defender was easily read. A moment of skill from the Chinese right winger, starting the run and then checking back to receive the ball in space was like a lesson for Vine – that’s how you make space, right there. With space at a premium, Yallop and Vine swapped before half time, but there was little joy on the left either.

Vine was lively in the second half as the play began to stretch. She did well to force a corner, stretching to reach a through ball, and it was her cross that was headed well wide by Heyman. The extra space was not exploited, the tendency to cut inside making her attacks too predictable, and when she headed a ball straight to an opponent and gave a cheap ball away, it felt inevitable that she would be one of the five substitutes to make way for the cavalry. Not a disastrous performance by all means, and Gustavsson may have been forcing his defenders to try and find her too often, but one that will have left the Sydney FC winger frustrated, with a place in the squad up for grabs.

Charlotte Grant was another player to leave the game when the five substitutions were made. She introduced herself into the game on two minutes, playing an aimless ball inside to gift possession to China, and when she went on to give the ball away cheaply a little later, Kennedy was thankfully on the scene to rescue the situation. When the horror moment between Hunt and Yallop let in China for a break, Grant had committed forward, playing alongside Heyman in anticipation of a long ball, almost a suicidal move leaving her defence exposed. That was a feature of her game, and perhaps one that had been put forward by her coach as an opportunity to help win headers in attack, but she looked a little unsettled too, playing a ball straight out of play under no challenge. A throw-in routine that looked straight from the training ground then saw Grant give the ball away again, and China were quick to jump on anything loose. Too many times we saw the Adelaide-born defender committed to attack, leaving the defence a player short; we will never know if this was by design or simply the player using their intuition.

As the second half got underway we could see that Torpey and Grant had swapped wings – both players able to play on either side, and Gustavsson admitted that he had done that intentionally in the first half. She was involved a little less in the game as Australia attacked, although she did try and thread a ball through for Fowler, and scrambled well to win the ball back when it was intercepted. Again, her substitution was no surprise, but she had been busy and willing, so should not be disappointed with her performance.

This was a difficult game for many. Mary Fowler had some poor early touches but wowed the crowd with a lovely spin to get out of trouble later in the half and it was her tricky feet that won the free kick that almost resulted in a goal. Her neat control and ball to Yallop had the crowd roaring towards the end of the half, and she should have scored in the second, choosing not to pull the trigger right in front before being hustled out of it.

Clare Wheeler could find no time when trying to receive the short ball from defence, Michelle Heyman battled well to pressurise the China players but played a woeful ball inside when trying to get the Matildas going on a rare attack. She did spin past her defender later in the half which gave the crowd a thrill, and then in the second half came deep to lay the ball off, showing us what we had been missing all game. Her chance at the end, trying to play in Hayley Raso when the shot was on, showed maybe a lack of conviction. Tameka Yallop seemed to be hiding behind a player whenever Australia played out from the back, obviously trying to be available for the second ball, but never the first.

China were comfortable in possession up front while the Matildas did not have that option. The China pressing was more intense and it was in first half injury time that we saw the only stray ball from the visitors.

Kaitlyn Torpey was beaten for pace when China scored, although a look from a different angle may have given VAR something to think about as she was pushed off the ball. She took her eye off the ball at one stage, letting the ball run out of play under no pressure at all – we’ve all done that – and later in the second half misdirected a header out of play. A hopeful long ball to Yallop on the left in the second half was easily cut out, but Torpey showed positivity going forward and this was a decent performance.

Special mention to Mackenzie Arnold, who played a lot of the ball with her feet today, especially in the first half when the defence ran out of ideas. She was involved in an unsavoury moment, feigning injury to allow Gustavsson to make tactical changes in the first half, and was then guilty of a terrible ball forward in the second half when trying to show her defenders how to distribute in a moment of impatience. Ante Milicic didn’t seem too worried by the game management tactics, and himself could be accused of time-wasting when kicking a ball away just before half time.

The Matildas best passage of play was when they were waiting for the subs to be made, and when the five players arrived, it took them a while to get in tune. Hayley Raso had a heavy touch to give the ball away and made fellow sub Kyra Cooney-Cross stretch to keep a ball with an unnecessarily wayward pass. She then played the Chinese attack onside as they hit the bar with a great chance, but the flag was up, rightly or wrongly. Cooney-Cross herself was lucky not to give a ball away with a mis-hit crossfield pass, but the four remaining subs, once Caitlin Foord had been diagnosed with a hamstring issue, brought life into the game, Ellie Carpenter and Raso especially dangerous down the right. Whether or not Raso was fouled as she skipped into the box is immaterial now without the aid of VAR, but the Matildas sent Arnold forward alongside Kennedy for the final attack of the match. It was a harsh handball call against the Chinese goalkeeper, and when Fowler’s whipped cross was parried, Heyman did brilliantly to react and fire home.

Did Australia deserve the draw? That’s up for debate. China showed more intensity, more verve in pressing up front, and were very comfortable in possession. It wasn’t until the latter stages of the game with Australia bringing on the big guns, that they looked threatening and menacing.

We get another chance to see our Matildas in action on Monday night in Sydney. This will be a big test. They will need to increase the tempo and cherish that possession more than they did in Adelaide in order to show that they are ready for the next big tournament in this fantastic journey under Gustavsson. The Olympic squad will be announced on Tuesday morning in Sydney. There is so much to play for, and a footballing public keen to see something to suggest that Australia will go deep into the tournament in Paris in six weeks’ time.