The Matildas’ hopes of starting their brave new world with a morale-boosting triumph have fallen flat in Zurich as they were left grateful to escape with a fairly undistinguished 1-1 draw against Switzerland.
Hoping to bounce back following their Olympic flop with an interim coach Tom Sermanni at the helm, Australia’s women again looked flat in their first match since the Games at Zurich’s Letzigrund Stadium on Friday (Saturday AEDT).
Despite the Swiss being palpably the better side in the first half, things still looked promising for Sermanni’s crew when Caitlin Foord won a penalty, brought down by Elvira Herzog when rounding the Swiss keeper, and got up to convert it from the spot.
But in a largely dull encounter, it was cancelled out by Geraldine Reuteler’s 58th minute strike amid some panicky defending which enabled the world’s 25th-ranked side to earn a well-deserved draw against a side 10 places higher in the FIFA hierarchy.
Yet it could have been worse for the Matildas, captained by Ellie Carpenter for the first time with Steph Catley only getting a late cameo off the bench after recent injury woes.
For in the 90th minute, Swiss sub Larina Baumann almost cashed in on more sloppy defending after Catley got robbed, hitting the bar with a curler that had Mackenzie Arnold well beaten.
The hosts could also look back with deep frustration on Smilla Vallotto’s glaring 40th-minute miss when her weak shot when one-on-one couldn’t beat the smart Arnold.
“I thought it was a bit mixed,” admitted Sermanni, the 70-year-old Scot charged with temporarily steadying the ship in his third spell at the helm after the calamitous end to Tony Gustavsson’s reign.
“I thought we were a little bit off the pace in the first half and the Swiss were a little bit sharper than us, got to the ball a little bit quicker.
“For big patches of the second half, we dominated possession without creating a lot of chances – but at 1-0 we didn’t have to create a lot of chances – but I was a little bit disappointed with the quality of the goal that we gave away. It was very messy defensively from us.”
Beforehand, Sermanni had identified a “beaten up” Matildas side “low on confidence” and more in need of a win than a good performance.
As it turned out, they got neither.
Not even a slew of second-half substitutions, including the Matildas’ baptism for 18-year-old Daniela Galic, turned the tide even when Australia belatedly applied some pressure near the end.
There were alarming deficiencies at both ends of the pitch, with the in-form Foord ploughing a lone furrow up front and a mainly deep-lying Mary Fowler drifting around looking a bit lost as precious few chances were fashioned.
At the back, Reuteler finally beat Arnold after the Australian defence amateurishly spurned several chances to clear their lines during a Swiss attack.
“That was disappointing, particularly at that stage when I didn’t feel we were under a great deal of pressure,” said Sermanni. “We had three or four opportunities to actually clear the ball.”
Of Fowler’s anonymity, he added: “For part of the time in our midfield, we didn’t quite work out how to press or when to press, and the result was Mary never really got a foothold in the game at any time.”
But he was impressed with the late 15-minute bow of highly-touted Dutch-based teen Galic.
“She certainly didn’t look out of place. Looked comfortable on the ball, kept wanting the ball, worked hard. Going into the national team in a very tight game for the first time, I thought she acquitted herself very, very well.”
But the Matildas will have to improve dramatically when they meet Germany, who hammered them at the Olympics, on Monday (Tuesday AEDT). “We certainly need to step up based on tonight’s performance,” conceded Sermanni.
Germany showed their quality as they beat England 4-3 in a friendly at Wembley on Friday night, in their first match under new coach Christian Wuck.
Germany’s clash with Australia will mark the farewell of long-serving captain Alexandra Popp, who is to retire from the national team.
