In this issue:
Tony Gustavsson psyches out Canada
Japan school Spain
Happy 1000 to the Women’s World Cup
It’s Day 12 of the Women’s World Cup and it’s probably no surprise that these newsletters are coming later and later. This was another hectic day as Group B and Group C came to their conclusion. It’s gone too quickly if you ask me.
This day was all about the pressure on co-hosts Australia who faced Canada for a shot at the round of 16. After a gut wrenching defeat to Nigeria that had sent the country into panic, Australia needed a big performance and big result to lift the home crowd behind them and reignite a sense of belief about this team.
The build up to this final game was dominated by the mystery about whether Sam Kerr would or wouldn’t play. Kerr, the captain and poster girl for this tournament, picked up an injury in training just before the opening game and hadn’t featured at all. In the pre-match press conference Kerr declared herself ready but wouldn’t share what that meant in terms of minutes. Matilda’s coach Tony Gustavsson was also tight lipped about whether she was anywhere near starting.
For her part, Canada coach Bev Priestman said she wasn’t even thinking about Kerr. She said before the game: “If I’m the Australian coach I’ll be doing the same, focusing on getting the players in front of me ready. Ultimately does it affect me? No. How much have I spoke about if she (Kerr) is or if she isn’t? We haven’t. We spoke about what it’s going to take to beat Australia, because Australia aren’t just Sam Kerr. At the end of the day we’ve got to play a group of 11 players that are going to do anything to try and get a result.”
In the end, Kerr sat on the bench and didn’t even make an appearance. Her calf was strapped and ready for minutes but Kerr didn’t take part in a warm up with teammates before the game and looked to be struggling.
Kerr wasn’t even needed as her teammates blitzed their way to a 4-0 victory over a subpar Canada team. The Olympic gold medallists are known for the solid defensive foundations but it fell to bits in Melbourne as Australia scored within 10 minutes.
The mere idea of Kerr and the threat of her featuring was seemingly enough to send Canada into a spin. Obviously, the result was not down to Kerr living rent free in Priestman and her players’ heads. But the risk of one of the world’s greatest strikers coming back to save their country was certainly enough to rattle some very experienced and talented defenders. Gustavsson took the heat off his players and put everything on Kerr, who played a long perfectly.
The numbers don’t lie
In the final round of games in Group C, Japan pulled off an incredible win over Spain, defeating them 4-0, Spain’s worst defeat since 2012.
The gameplan from Japan was perfect. They sat back, stayed narrow and compact, and allowed Spain no space. Spain had nearly all of the ball but any misplaced pass or turnover was pounced on and Japan countered at speed. It took just 12 minutes for the plan to pay off and Japan never let up. Four moments, three in the first half alone, and only 28% possession. Japan spent just 27 seconds in the final third in the first half and had only three touches, but all of those touches were goals.
Spain had no answer for such a simple but effective gameplan. So few teams have been that clinical in this tournament and it was dazzling to see a team just complete bulldoze a side that is known for its immense ability on the ball.
1000 goals
It was fitting that Zambia’s Barbra Banda scored the Women’s World Cup’s 1000th goal and her first ever in the tournament. The Zambian superstar’s penalty will go down in history as the one that sent Women’s World Cup goal count hit four figures.
Banda’s team grabbed their first ever World Cup win with a 3-1 victory over Costa Rica but sadly it was too little to late as they had already been knocked out of the tournament.
Till tomorrow!