The Matildas’ hopes of starting their brave new world with a morale-boosting triumph have fallen flat in Zurich as they were left grateful to escape with a fairly undistinguished 1-1 draw against Switzerland.
Hoping to bounce back following their Olympic flop with a new interim coach Tom Sermanni at the helm, Australia‘s women again failed to shine in their first match since the Games at Zurich’s Letzigrund Stadium.
Despite the Swiss being the superior side in the first half, things still looked promising for Sermanni’s crew when Caitlin Foord won a penalty and converted it a couple of minutes before the break.
But it was cancelled out by Géraldine Reuteler‘s 58th minute strike amid some panicky defending which enabled the world’s 25th-ranked side to earn a well-deserved draw against a side ranked 10 places higher in the FIFA hierarchy.
It could have been worse for the Matildas, captained by Ellie Carpenter for the first time with Steph Catley only getting a late cameo off the bench after recent injury woes.
For in the 90th minute, Swiss substitute Larina Baumann almost cashed in on more sloppy defending to hit the bar with a curling shot that had Mackenzie Arnold well beaten.
The Swiss could also look back with frustration on Smilla Vallotto‘s glaring 40th minute miss when her weak shot when one-on-one couldn’t beat the smart Arnold.
“I thought it was a bit mixed,” admitted Sermanni, the 70-year-old Scot charged with temporarily steadying the ship in his third spell at the helm after the calamitous end to Tony Gustavsson’s reign.
“I thought we were a little bit off the pace in the first half and the Swiss were a little bit sharper than us, got to the ball a little bit quicker.
“For big patches of the second half, we dominated possession without creating a lot of chances — but at 1-0 we didn’t have to create a lot of chances — but I was a little bit disappointed with the quality of the goal that we gave away. It was very messy defensively from us.”
Scot Sermanni had identified a “beaten up” Matildas side “low on confidence” and more in need of a win than a good performance as the World Cup semi-finalists embarked on their first match since their Olympic campaign crashed and burned in the south of France.
As it turned out, they got neither the result nor the performance, with not even a slew of substitutions, including the Matildas’ baptism of 18-year-old Daniela Galic, able to turn the tide even when they did begin to apply some belated pressure on the hosts near the end.
Not even a slew of second-half substitutions, including the Matildas’ baptism for 18-year-old Daniela Galic, turned the tide even when Australia belatedly applied some pressure near the end.
There were alarming deficiencies at both ends of the pitch, with the in-form Foord ploughing a lone furrow up front and a mainly deep-lying Mary Fowler drifting around looking a bit lost as precious few chances were fashioned.
At the back, Reuteler finally beat Arnold after the Australian defence amateurishly spurned several chances to clear their lines during a Swiss attack.
“That was disappointing, particularly at that stage when I didn’t feel we were under a great deal of pressure,” said Sermanni. “We had three or four opportunities to actually clear the ball.”
Of Fowler’s anonymity, he added: “For part of the time in our midfield, we didn’t quite work out how to press or when to press, and the result was Mary never really got a foothold in the game at any time.”
But he was impressed with the late 15-minute bow of highly-touted Dutch-based teen Galic.
“She certainly didn’t look out of place. Looked comfortable on the ball, kept wanting the ball, worked hard. Going into the national team in a very tight game for the first time, I thought she acquitted herself very, very well.”
But the Matildas will have to improve dramatically when they meet Germany, who hammered them at the Olympics, on Monday (Tuesday AEDT). “We certainly need to step up based on tonight’s performance,” conceded Sermanni.
Germany showed their quality as they beat England 4-3 in a friendly at Wembley on Friday night, in their first match under new coach Christian Wuck.
Germany’s clash with Australia will mark the farewell of long-serving captain Alexander Popp, who is to retire from the national team.