The Matildas captain is back for the must-win game against Canada, and with the weight of a nation on her shoulders, has issued her own call-to-armsWhat a difference six words make.For the past nine days, the hopes of a nation have hung off Sam Kerr’s left calf. Ever since the 11th-hour announcement that the captain would miss Australia’s Women’s World Cup opener against Ireland, due to a calf injury suffered in training, Australian fans have waited anxiously for news on Kerr’s gastrocnemius and soleus muscles. Continue reading...
Statistics show a large majority of Matildas and Socceroos games are staged in New South Wales but context is needed to understand whyLast week, Matildas’ coach Tony Gustavsson cut a customarily jovial figure as he helped announce February’s Cup of Nations. The Swede had good reason to be convivial; the mini-tournament provides a chance to continue momentum from a successful November international window with a group-stage simulation against Spain, Jamaica and Czechia across Sydney, Gosford and Newcastle.The New South Wales slant of the host cities is clear, and has been met with predictable reactions. In the wake of furious backlash to the Australian Professional Leagues’s sale of hosting rights for the next three A-Leagues grand finals to Sydney, Football Australia’s...
In the dark comedy of the Matildas’ last-gasp victory against New Zealand, uncomfortable truths emergedUnless one is fortunate enough to be among that pure group of supporters whose mood is governed entirely by their team winning or losing, in the same binary way that the tides are dictated by the moon, then at some point watching the Matildas clash with New Zealand, all you could do was laugh.It wasn’t humorous in the traditional sense. There were no slapstick collisions or misunderstandings. Lydia Williams didn’t decide to take advantage of the almost complete absence of threat to her goal by giving the crowd at the north Queensland stadium 15 minutes of stand up. Instead, it was amusing in the most perfect,...