The Matildas pushed Sweden to their limits in the semi-final and expectation is rising after their extended run in Tokyo
Tony Gustavsson cuts a bristling figure as he hunches over the post-match microphone. It is the same microphone behind which, 24 hours earlier, the Matildas coach sat beaming while previewing Australia’s historic semi-final against Sweden. But now, after his side’s 1-0 defeat to the Rio silver medallists, the mood has shifted. It is a wonder the metal does not melt in the white-hot reactor of his voice.
An Australian journalist asks the delicate question: did you tell the players they should be proud of what they have achieved here in Tokyo? Gustavsson stares, unblinking, as though offended by the journalist’s use of past tense. “I didn’t say they should be proud of what they achieved,” he fires back, “because we have unfinished business here.”
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