the Matildas unofficial thread

one of the reason's I love the Matildas is all the youth on this team. here's a partial list of their age

who's played at this wc

Crummer 19 year old
Catley 21
Foord 20
Kennedy 20
Simon 23
Gorry 22
Kerr 21
K Knight 24

are on the NT(but haven't played yet)
Bolger 21
Arnold 22
Raso 20

didn't make the wc nt but who's time will probably come

Allen 21
Harrison 19
Chidac 16
Davey 20

makes you wonder why the US can't play younger players as well?

 

I guess my post was more of a snipe against the US than their record vs Australia. You got to understand, The US has more than 10 times the pop. of AU(with 4 states;NY, CA, TX, & FL, exceeding AU). Plus, women's soccer is an huge participation in American, with millions playing at the youth recreational level, and thousands more for what's called elite/select. High school participation is at 390K, college at 36K. A lot of NT players from other countries play college ball in the states, New Zealand got 3 starters from US college teams. Woso is also very well funded in the US, with parents paying sometimes thousands of $$$ to put their kids through the elite level(but that's more to get their kids college scholarships than anything else).
Being part of the USWNT is basically a cash cow for it's players. several of them will walk away with perhaps over a million dollars from this WC. All ready their's dozens of commercials on the air featuring the our soccer players. One is using is using the theme song, AMERICAN WOMEN. In it's day, this was a scathing anti Vietnam war song. But the song's owners(former Canadian band< Guess Who) don't mind selling out for a big royalty fee, so you know the players are going to get paid handsomely as well. After the WC, we're going be even hit with way more endorsements. So that's what I don't like about our women's team; players way past their prime like Wambach & Rampone, staying in there, just to benefit all the money being handed out to them. This is so different than for example, in AU, where a lot of women got to give up their soccer careers in their prime, simply cause the money or sponsorship is not enough compare what it is for the US NT's

But switching to the original threat; good luck to the Matildas! you'll need it against Japan, a team that remains a paradox, since they keep winning by 1 goal, whether it's against the worst team in the WC(Ecuador) or against some pretty could competition(the Swiss & Dutch). Cant say much about them; over in the US, all their games been played on FOX Sports weakest of their 3 channels, Fox 2(the one I don't)

 

fans of Sam Kerr will be happy to know she had a brilliant game upon her return to her current club, Sky Blue. Here are highlights vs the Thorns(not shown much, Catlyn Foord's par excellence at fb in this game)

 

good story, the only thing I don't like is that Heyman claims she's offered something like 30 times more to play in South Korea. So why not take the offer? She'll be setting a precedent that Aussie players will go somewhere else if they get poorly paid at home. Heyman lost her starting spot on the NT to Simon, plus it's not a sure bet that Australia will qualify for the Olympics as they're fewer spots available.If it's true that the Matildas will not call up members that are playing in foreign countries, then they loose out on their two current Bundesliga players, Knight-Kellog & Van Egmond, who are stationed way further away than South Korea(so that wouldn't make any sense)

 

it's official; soccer replaces netball as the top female participation team sport in Australia
http://www.thewomensgame.com/2015/12/girls-football-participation-hits-all-time-high/

as for netball on this side of the pacific~~~we hardly knew ya! whata call it; basketball played in cheer leading uni's???

 

not liking this squad at all/missing due to injuries, Sam Kerr & Amy Harrison, and then you got to wonder if Catlyn Foord is back at 100%? That broken collarbone looked pretty severe a few months back. Don't know what the coach has against Marianna Tabain & HaleyRasso?(both didn't make it)

Tabain at mid, was the leagues leading scorer. OK that was still 3rd on the team. But Tabain's 7 goals were scored in 892 minutes at play, whereas Kim Little's 8 goals(including 1 pk) were scored in 1047 min. & Crummer's(as the main striker spot) 11 goals for scored in 1049 min.

Rasso, only scored a couple goals and does lack a good shot. But she does have the speed to bulldoze her way through, thus causing havoc among defenses. You got to think that the Asian defense does not have the quickness, that's why Gorry continues to shine against them while considered a slow poke in her stint at the NWSL.

Instead Staj picked non potential lethal fwds like Luik & Cooper. My prediction is this time the Matildas wouldn't make it to the Olympics. When you look at the competition; North Korea, while banned at the WC, looked impressive winning the East Asian Cup. Japan always does strong in the main tourney's, and China has had a major rebuilding year under their new coach Bruno Bini, possibly playing the world's toughest schedule in just a few months with victories again the USA & England

 

Congrats to the Matildas for not only making Rio but winning the tourney as well. I be honest, I wasn't expecting them to make it with all the injuries they had and that they were so dominated by Japan in their quarter final defeat at last year's WC. But they played(or was it switched?) to a way more physical game than their opponents, plus there's no doubt they had the fastest players in the tournament. Wasn't expecting Foord to come back so soon from an horrendous injury either. She finally got moved smartly over to a fwd winger(though Longarzo did quite well at that spot as well) and Polkinghorne(who wasn't really impressive at cb) got switched over to fb. The Matildas used their subs wisely too, which helped for a gruelling schedule/5 games in 10 days. But make no mistakes, the Matildas were on fire since day one when they upset the fav, Japan, but a handy score of 3-1

Here is the full game vs China. Probably not the best game as it was played on a soaked pitch and of their's as they started quite a few new players. Most notable is Gail Carpenter at fb, she's only 15 year old