The unimaginable journey is over. Australia’s gorgeous World Cup run lastly had the curtains closed on it in Brisbane by the hands of Sweden.
Happening 2-0 within the third-place play-off, the Matildas appeared drained and at instances offended of their farewell to the match.
Listed here are the 5 speaking factors from the match.
1. Gorry not sorry
The Matildas performed with an urgency within the third-place play-off, so keen had been they to finish their historic Girls’s World Cup run on a becoming notice.
However that urgency begat desperation begat frustration, and that is the trail to the darkish aspect, which Katrina Gorry embodied within the 2-0 loss at Brisbane Stadium.
The previous Roar participant has tip-toed all around the ‘line’ in the course of the World Cup and her profession typically, and she or he was fortunate to solely get two yellow playing cards all through.
She bought a warning from the ref for a cynical sort out on Stina Blackstenius early within the conflict with Sweden, copped a yellow card for a foul problem from behind because the first-half stoppage time started, and issues bubbled over with half-time within the offing.
Gorry had earned her staff a free-kick, however when Kosovare Asllani continued to face over Gorry and the ball, the previous Roar participant rose to her toes and shoved the Sweden captain.
Referee Cheryl Foster and Matildas Steph Catley and Clare Polkinghorne got here in to separate them as Gorry’s eyes screamed bloody homicide, and her mouth sang an identical tune.
2. Ending the World Cup in a world of damage
Australia appeared in ache after last whistle within the third-place play-off, and never simply due to the scoreline.
It was indicative of a match wherein the Matildas have stood as much as the problem not solely of one of the best soccer groups on the earth, however needed to bear the load of expectation from a sports-mad nation.
Sam Kerr, having missed the group stage with an injured left calf, was additionally hobbling on her proper after copping a knock from Magdalena Eriksson. And Caitlin Foord was rocking a shiner and a bandaged head from a first-half head conflict with Asllani.
On the bench sat Alanna Kennedy, nursing a concussion from the quarterfinal in opposition to France, and Kyah Simon, who was carried within the squad however didn’t play a minute and even participate in pre-match warm-ups as she is seemingly nonetheless recovering from a torn ACL.
And talking of unused substitutes …
3. The good sub snub debate
Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson has copped warmth for not utilizing his bench sufficient in the course of the match.
From being gradual to introduce attacking gamers when his staff was trailing Nigeria 3-1 after 72 minutes, to barely giving gamers breaks in 4-0 and 2-0 wins over Canada and Denmark respectively, the bench depth hasn’t actually been trusted.
The Matildas appeared progressively increasingly out of gasoline from the quarters to the top of their match, and it is maybe as a result of so a lot of them performed such heavy minutes, notably in defence.
Steph Catley and Clare Hunt performed each minute of the match, and Ellie Carpenter was subbed off for the primary time within the 74th minute of the ultimate match. It is secure to imagine Kennedy, who performed each minute of her 5 appearances, would have carried an identical load had she stayed match.
So it was refreshing to see in opposition to Sweden, when it was nicely and really time to throw warning to the wind, Gustavsson use his bench gamers just a little extra.
Vine and Emily van Egmond got here on after an hour, and 21-year-old Courtney Nevin bought her first minutes of the match when she got here on for Carpenter alongside livewire Alex Chidiac.
4. Gustavsson needs funding now
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As is nearly all the time the case in high-performance sport, Soccer Australia will do an intensive assessment of the Matildas’ efficiency at this World Cup, as soon as the euphoria has subsided.
“I feel we’ll study rather a lot about me as a coach, concerning the staff, about preparation, about funding,” he mentioned.
“I really like working with this staff. It resonates with me as a coach, their id and their why. And I’ve mentioned it earlier than, I do not see this as an finish of a journey, I see it as the start of a journey.
“However I additionally need to be very clear that I need to see funding now. I actually do. I need to see funding and I imply like actual funding that we’re critical about what we do.”
The federal authorities has introduced a $200 million funding enhance for ladies’s sport off the again of the Matildas’ efficiency, and one among their vanquishers hopes it yields the rewards.
“For Australia, I feel … I hope that this this match can elevate the requirements for the gamers in Australia and in addition golf equipment get higher and extra skilled,” participant of the match Fridolina Rolfö mentioned.
“I feel this match has been nice for Australia typically.”
5. Lionesses out to finish 57-year World Cup drought
The sport of soccer was invented in England, the nation argues it has one of the best males’s and ladies’s leagues on the earth, and is all the time probably the most intently watched nations heading right into a World Cup.
However that has yielded startlingly little success on the match.
Tonight’s last is England’s first berth within the Girls’s World Cup decider, and the Three Lions have not reached the lads’s last since their one and solely title, so famously received at Wembley in 1966.
The Lionesses avenged England’s males’s Euros last loss by successful the ladies’s crown final 12 months. Can they assist shut the nationwide sporting wound that’s the dearth of soccer world titles?
We’ll discover out from 8pm AEST, once they tackle Spain, additionally enjoying its first ladies’s last, at Sydney’s Stadium Australia.
ABC Sport can have reside weblog and radio protection of the Girls’s World Cup last in Sydney/Wangal from 6.30pm AEST.
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