Matildas fall 2-1 against USA despite improved performance

In their second game of the SheBelieves Cup, the Matildas were defeated by the tournament hosts, the USA, on Monday morning (AEDT), but the Aussies had a stark improvement with a different starting side.

The game came 72 hours after the 4-0 loss to Japan on Friday, which saw a players-only meeting take place in the fallout, as the questions started being asked from all areas about the future of the side.

Tom Sermanni did his best to answer those questions, bringing Teagan Micah, Charli Grant, Winonah Heatley, and Holly McNamara, which was her first start in 1122 days for the national team.

Grant’s inclusion allowed Steph Catley to move centrally to partner with Alanna Kennedy in the centre of defence, while McNamara was deployed as the lone striker, with Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso dropping a little deeper in a 4-2-3-1 formation to start, rather than a 4-3-3.

Sermanni praised the attitude and effort of the squad post-game, remarking that it was better, particularly given the side conceded inside the first minute to a Lynn Biyendolo strike, before nearly conceding a second goal minutes later but were saved by the offside flag.

Once the Matildas found their rhythm, the style of play looked remarkably similar to what we have seen in the past when these two sides have met, and the first 10 minutes of the second half was some of the best football the side has played in quite some time, although Sermanni noted more needs to be done before the game against Colombia.

“I think we do still need to keep the ball better. I think our movement needs to be a bit slicker, our rhythm needs to be better, but we also need to identify threats and be a little bit more aggressive with our forward running and our ability to see forward passes. That’s something going forward we need to do much better,” Sermanni said.

A massive positive to take from the game going forward was the inclusion of Micah into the starting side, coming in for Mackenzie Arnold, who had a remarkable performance in net.

She also staked her case for the number one spot with some of the saves she made in the latter stages of the game, something she might already have were in not for a horror run of injuries in recent years.

“I think [the battle for the starting spot has] been close for some time [and] there’s been times when Teagan [Micah] has been the number one,” Sermanni said.

“The situation at the moment is that Teagan’s been playing week in and week out in the WSL and performing really well whereas Mackenzie [Arnold] hasn’t played and is barely back in pre-season training.

“Particularly for a goalkeeper, it’s not like an outfield player where you can run around, for a goalkeeper they need to get matches under the belt before they come in at this level.

“It’s too premature to know what we’re doing against Colombia. At this stage, I couldn’t tell you the starting goalkeeper.”

The Matildas are next in action against Colombia on Thursday morning at 11:30am (AEDT) to round out their SheBelieves Cup campaign.

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