The biggest day in Australian football history has arrived, with the Matildas front and centre of the nation’s consciousness as they take on France in a World Cup quarter-final in Brisbane.
It remains uneasy to consider what we’d have missed had the team failed to defeat Canada and progress to the Round of 16, for the fortnight since has been akin to dreamland for passionate members of the Australian football community. To do so in such swashbuckling fashion was the clarion call for the bandwagon jumpers to spring to life.
In the modern era of infinite choice the concept of ‘national support’ doesn’t hold the same weight as it did for Bradman’s Invincibles in the 40’s, or Cathy Freeman in 2000. But with television records under threat, and even the AFL accommodating viewership the Matildas, for so long an underfunded, niche community, have driven a national reprise.
‘It is really special, and has gone beyond my expectations of just how much everyone is into it, getting around it. I tried not to think too much beforehand about what a home World Cup would look like, but the public appetite off the back of the last two matches has been out of control’, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Vince Rugari told Box2Box.
‘Everything we are writing, people have been reading in huge numbers. It really does feel like something that’s taken the attention of the entire country to an unprecedented level and I just hope it continues, because it’s been so much fun knowing wherever you go, whoever you talk to, people are thinking about the Matildas.
‘It’s sort of what we’ve all dreamed of in football in Australia and it’s happening. We’ve got to smell the roses while we’ve got a situation like this.’
Last year, Graham Arnold had to stare his job and reputation in the face as his Socceroos side reached the World Cup via a penalty shootout. The finest margins could have consigned him to history as a failure; from there, he went on to legacy-building success in Qatar.
His Matildas counterpart Tony Gustasvsson has undergone similar examination this past month. He campaigned for trust in the years preceding this tournament, engendered great faith in the months prior, but then oversaw a disaster against Nigeria that threatened to kibosh the whole undertaking, regarding not only his team but the hosting of the tournament.
‘My insight was that he was going to be, if not sacked, but if they’d lost the Canada game, he would resign or if not soon after, be shown the door. To go from that to the way they’ve played the last couple of games, he deserves a massive amount of credit’, said Rugari.
‘He got a few things wrong against Nigeria but since then he’s gotten pretty much everything right. It’s not over yet but it’s amazing how fickle this industry can be, a results driven business, where you go from getting the sack to, probably, a contract extension pretty soon if they keep going like this.’
Gustavsson’s dilemma ahead of today’s quarter-final is how to get maximum impact from Sam Kerr, fit again after a near-disastrous pre-tournament calf injury but without the minutes in the legs to make it through the whole of a match that could become a knockout battle of attrition.
‘The question for me is can she play 120 minutes? If the answer is no I think she comes off the bench. Is it good to have her from the start, play 60-70 minutes if that’s all she’s capable of, and then bring her off?
‘It’s a really good thing to have up the team’s sleeve, to know if things aren’t going your way you can bring on one of the best players in the world, which is amazing. I’m leaning towards her coming off the bench, but I’d love to see her start and go all the way through.’