Pressure coach Tony Gustavsson has defended his experimental approach for Australia’s first international match with Spain, despite a 7-0 thrashing of Huelva which he considered the Matildas’ strongest defeat in 25 years.
An Australian team with little strength was overwhelmed by the hosts in the second half at the Estadio Nuevo Colombino, and conceded six goals after a strong first-half defensive display had kept the world number 7 at bay.
Australia, just five places below Spain in the FIFA rankings, entered the half with just one goal down after their resistance was finally broken in the 44th minute by a wonderful goal from Aitana Bonmatí . But what had been a very pleasant first period for Gustavsson soon gave way to a capitulation, which called into question the value of playing such an inexperienced team against one of the best teams in the world.
“There will probably be some reactions of‘ why did you play such a good team with such an inexperienced squad? ’” Gustavsson said. “But I think we need those answers. Not in the short term, and especially not for me. I’ll be examined now, but it’s not about me, but about the long-term legacy, 23 and beyond. Not just preparing for the World Cup, but the investments after that World Cup and I think the answers we have now are a wake-up call for a lot of people. “
The defeat increases the pressure on the Swede, who was already under fire after the early departure of the Asian Cup of Matildas in January and whose balance since he took over in 2020 has been poor. But he insisted the game in Spain was a useful exercise.
“Upon entering this game, we said we would see it as two 45 – minute games and get different answers. [for each period]”He said.” In the first period, considering the [lack of] experience in the park in the top 45, to commit to a game plan like this against Spain, one of the best teams in the world … In fact, I am very happy and proud of the commitment and effort of the girls in defense.
“In the second half we looked at other things. We wanted to rotate players, look at players. I want to be very clear now that it’s not about blaming an individual player for the loss. These players further represent a situation in which we find ourselves right now where we ended a match with four players playing in the NPL and one in college.
“Waiting for these individual players to face Spain is not fair to the individual. I am ready to receive this blow as a coach “.
The Matildas lacked a large number of regular starters, such as Captain Sam Kerr, Ellie Carpenter, Steph Catley, Kyah Simon, Mary Fowler, Alanna Kennedy and Caitlin Foord, with a number of new faces incorporated. Taylor Ray and Jamilla Rankin made their debut. as Gustavsson made eight changes to the set that last month defeated New Zealand 3-1 at Canberra and experimented with five behind.
The Matildas went back to 4-3-3 after the break, but soon fell apart and when Mariona Caldentey found the back of the net in the 48th minute, the floodgates opened. Esther González added a third before Lucía García scored her first goal of the match, as Spain took a 4-0 lead 10 minutes into the second half.
Garcia added her second of the night before Irene Guerrero pocketed two of them for herself as full time approached and Spain continued their preparations for the next stylish European Euro. For the Matildas, it was their biggest defeat since they fell to the United States 9-1 in 1997, and they equaled a 7-0 defeat at the hands of China in 1988.