Aussie’s Olympian effort far from golden
Australia is the most disappointing team in the Women’s World Cup.
After a year of residency camp, and hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government, all the Matildas could produce was a measly tie with African minnow Ghana and a quick first-round exit.
This from a team expecting to reach the quarterfinals and expecting even more from themselves when they host next year’s Olympic Games in Sydney. They’re looking to sell their sport before the Games, but it’s a hard-sell.
“If we did come out at least getting out into the quarterfinals, we could have gotten more media support behind us,” Australia forward Angela Iannotta said. “In Australia, women’s soccer is a growing sport. But media-wise, it’s just going to be what it’s like now.”
The Matildas grouped to train for the World Cup before Oceania qualifying last fall and have been together since.
“We had a great preparation,” Australia captain Julie Murray said. “But we didn’t perform the way we wanted to.
“[In the Olympics] we’re not going to want to disappoint ourselves as we did with our results in this World Cup. We’ll want to put on a good show. I can say now our results and our performance won’t mimic this World Cup.”
In their second Group D game, the Matildas were outplayed by Sweden (a 3-1 loss). They were better in their last Group D game (a 3-1 loss to China).
The Matildas’ primary problem in the World Cup was that they couldn’t decide how to play. They say they like to knock the ball around and keep it on the ground but instead they resorted to direct play.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do before the Olympic Games,” admitted Australia coach Greg Brown.
by Soccer America Associate Editor Dean Caparaz