When something miraculous — something truly unbelievable — happens in sport, the scriptwriter’s imagination gets called into question. They simply never could have written this. It’s too far-fetched.
It appears that whoever is writing the Matildas‘ Women’s World Cup script is either penning the most miraculous tale, or preparing a horror story not even the most pessimistic fans could have conjured up pre-tournament.
Of course, the blame cannot lie solely with the football gods, nor can luck’s influence be ignored here either.
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Is it bad luck that Sam Kerr — not just Australia’s, but the tournament’s biggest star — hasn’t been available due to injury? Is it bad luck that Mary Fowler and Aivi Luik sustained separate concussions in the same training session?
It certainly wasn’t luck, but choice, that Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson didn’t make any changes from the bench when two goals down against Nigeria. Then there’s that other decision — one that has been heavily debated and will only continue to be debated — to select an unfit Kyah Simon in Australia’s 23-player squad with one eye on the knockouts. The butterfly effect of Kerr’s injured calf may well determine how Simon’s selection is viewed in years to come.
But for all the philosophy and permutations and luck and agency, there is still a game of football to be played. Kerr’s potential inclusion for Australia’s game against Canada on Monday, even if it is just potential, has alleviated anxieties in a way that simply nothing else could have. Gustavsson’s laughter when asked about her training, while revealing nothing, perhaps has refueled those anxieties, but the proposition of being able to unleash Kerr off the bench suddenly makes what looked like a bleak picture post-Nigeria, brighter.
Ellie Carpenter called seeing her captain back in her boots on the pitch “a lovely sight.”
“Obviously, having our captain back is the best feeling that we can have as a group, as a squad,” Carpenter told media.
“Like she said, she’s worked so hard over these 10 to 12 days since it happened to get herself ready as can be for Monday. We’re all just stoked that she’ll be available for Monday.”
The test that lies for these Matildas is both foreign and familiar at the same time. This is a team with Champions League winners and finalists. These players have taken part in FA Cup finals and most of the squad has now played in front of over 100,000 people in the last week alone. But they’ve arguably never played with this specific brand of pressure on them.
“It’s a massive game for us. We all know exactly what’s at stake,” Matildas midfielder Emily van Egmond said. “But at the end of the day, we as players, we don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves.
“At the end of the day it’s just another game of football and I think the uniqueness and the characters of this team. That’s exactly how they’ll be thinking about it.”
Carpenter echoed Van Egmond’s thoughts on how the squad needs to approach this game.
“On Monday, it’s a game. But it’s also an occasion,” she said. “And mentally, we need to remind ourselves not to exert so much energy and focus before the game and just wait until that whistle goes. And we’ve done a lot of work on that obviously mentally as well. I think that’s one of the most important things about the tournament.”
0:40
Priestman: Australia aren’t just Sam Kerr
Canada head coach Bev Priestman looks ahead to their huge clash with Australia at the Women’s World Cup.
The Matildas will look to tighten things up defensively following one of their worst displays down back in some time against Nigeria. Carpenter admitted that Nigeria’s goals were all Australian mistakes. A lack of finishing down the other end magnified these errors.
The full-back expects a contest from Canada, even though the Olympic champions can get away with a draw from their clash against the Matildas to progress to the knockout stage.
“Knowing Canada, they’re going to back themselves,” Carpenter said. “They’re a confident team, a top 10 team, they have quality players everywhere along the pitch.
“I’d be surprised if they do sit off. I think they will go for it, but that makes it an even better game. You don’t want team’s sitting off, I think we’re better when both teams are going for it.”
The only thing that feels certain heading into this clash is that it will be big. And its ramifications will be bigger.
Pre-tournament, tickets to Monday’s game were on of the World Cup’s hottest commodities. The relatively smaller size of Melbourne Rectangular Stadium — now fondly known as “The Missus” by local fans — and a match that always loomed as decisive made securing tickets difficult and therefore special.
Now, two matchdays into the World Cup, these Canada vs. Australia tickets will become the stuff of Australian sporting folklore.
Were you there in the stadium when the Matildas conjured up a miracle? Or were you there in the stadium when the castle came crumbling down?
