Tough love from Matildas coach

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson admits a Tokyo Olympics medal could be out of his battered team’s reach as he focuses on the long-term goal of turning Australia into a football powerhouse in time for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Gustavsson’s tenure as Matildas coach has started on a shocking and revealing note, with Australia thrashed 5-2 and 5-0 respectively by Germany and the Netherlands during a sobering European camp.

Despite the confidence-shattering results, Gustavsson made no apologies for selecting tough opponents for the Matildas.

“I could have gone the easy route to have a couple of easy games to begin with to get some buy in from the stakeholders and players so maybe it would have looked better than it is … but we need to play these tough games,” he said.

“We need to get exposure for these players against the top nations. Everything at this level is faster.

“We know where we want to be but we need to identify where we are at right now.

“Conceding five goals two games in a row is not good … but it’s also good learnings that we need to know where individual players are at (and) where the team’s at.

“This is next level when you play world-class teams. We need to get better in order to deal with these teams moving forward.”

FULL TIME | Not our night. The attention now turns to the #Tokyo2020 draw next week. #WeAreMatildaspic.twitter.com/CQPdTkYwBY

Gustavsson is hopeful of similarly tough opposition who play a different style of football when the Australians continue their Olympics’ preparations with two more games in June.

However, with the Tokyo Games starting in July, time is not on the Matildas’ side.

“The time is one of the number one challenges … but we have a mindset that we’re going to do everything within our power in this short time frame,” Gustavsson said.

“I need to … come up with a plan on what’s the best path moving forward for the team to be able to perform as good as possible come the Olympics, (and) parallel to that have an eye on the 2023 journey.”

And that journey could include Australia-based players, none of whom were selected by Gustavsson in his first squad.

“As a national team coach you always want as many players as possible to be available for selection,” the Sweden-born mentor said.

“I understand and have complete respect for the decision made from a medical perspective that we couldn’t pick players from Australia this time around because of COVID.

“Would I be happy if that opens up so I can select from anywhere? Yes … but with the situation we have in the world today, I have to plan for both (scenarios).”

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