{"id":351139,"date":"2023-12-03T01:55:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-03T02:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=351139"},"modified":"2023-12-03T04:02:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-03T04:02:19","slug":"exactly-matildas-coach-fires-back-after-drubbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=351139","title":{"rendered":"'Exactly': Matildas coach fires back after drubbing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matildas<\/a> coach Tony Gustavsson admits he was "willing to risk the result" of Saturday's clash with Canada to test the depth of his squad and manage load, defending his overhaul of the starting XI after the team copped a 5-0 hiding<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Matildas boss also said some of his players told him after the match the massive shake-up of the XI was "exactly" what the squad needed.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Gustavsson drew criticism from former Australian forward Andy Harper and thousands of Matildas fans after he rolled out a vastly different squad to the one which captivated the nation in this year's World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Selectors pick Warner as ball-tampering saga reignites\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussie's beautiful tribute to loved one after thrilling win\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Lyon's blunt defence of Opening Round amid backlash\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Swedish coach decided to bench Mary Fowler, Katrina Gorry, Alanna Kennedy, Hayley Raso, Emily van Egmond and several other regular starters, depleting his side further after megastar striker Sam Kerr and goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold\ufeff were ruled unavailable due to injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"Individually, I want to look at the game, but I said before that I want to win a player this game and get some answers, and the 30 minutes with Charlie Rule's centre-back play was impressive," Gustavsson explained.<\/p>\n

"She hasn't played that before. She has a profile that we think is exciting if you want to play more with the ball and I think her last 30 minutes was very impressive.<\/p>\n

"So we were willing to risk the result \u2014 not that we wanted to lose, but we were willing to look at players tonight and it cost us."<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

Canada's belting of the Matildas followed Australia's 4-0 smashing of Canada during the World Cup<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Gustavsson noted the fitness of his players after Saturday's match in the Canadian city of Victoria.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"If you, for example, have a player that can only have one game [due to load management], 'Which game are we playing that with?'" he said.<\/p>\n

"If we mix [experience with inexperience] maybe we get them more likely to [have a] solid performance, but also at the expense of continuity in a potential starting line-up."<\/p>\n

Gustavsson said he felt like his side had "a balance and a structure" despite the heavy loss, before crediting the players' commitment.<\/p>\n

"We felt that these players deserve a chance to test that formation and see which player can fit in what role, and compete for spots in the same type of formation," he added.<\/p>\n

The Matildas will face Canada in the second of two friendlies on Wednesday, meeting their rivals in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

In February, the Australians will take on Uzbekistan in two Paris 2024 qualifiers, one at home and the other away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson admits he was "willing to risk the result" of Saturday's clash with Canada to test the depth of his squad and […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":351141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=351139"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351142,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351139\/revisions\/351142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/351141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=351139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=351139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=351139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}