Football Australia urged to not make same Matildas mistake as bombshell Tony Gustavsson claims emerge
Reports have emerged that the Matildas' playing group never fully believed into Gustavsson's football tactics.
Football Australia (FA) has been urged to replace Tony Gustavsson with a coach who knows the local football scene and is capable of overseeing widespread changes. Gustavsson was relieved of his Matildas' post amid claims of disharmony within the camp at the Olympics.
The Matildas were eliminated from the Paris Games on Wednesday night after a 2-1 loss to the USA on Wednesday, which followed a 3-0 to Germany and a 6-5 win over Zambia. Australia's women's team finished on three points after the group stage but didn't advance to the quarter-finals due to their poor goal differential.
Despite the win over Zambia, the Aussies had to come from 5-2 down and looked nowhere near the team that made the semi-finals of the World Cup last year. Throughout the Matildas' Olympic campaign, there have been reports of discontent among players and following news Gustavsson had been relieved of his duties, several Matildas players privately expressed their frustrations with his coaching style.
Leading journalist Jessica Halloran reported earlier this week that Gustavsson's "reign will end" after the Olympics, "but questions have been raised about his management of the team in France." Halloran reported that she had been told by players that the whole campaign was a “shitshow” and a “mess”.
But on Friday, The Australian revealed the playing group's frustrations with Gustavsson's leadership were not new and that they had long held animosity towards the former Matildas coach largely due to some of his questionable tactical decisions. The publication revealed that Gustavsson “lost the dressing room some time ago”, with several players describing his time in charge as “four years of hell”.
It has been reported that Gustavsson's tactical calls regularly left players stunned and bewildered before it all came to a head in the Paris horror show. The Matildas' Olympics gameplan was labelled as “disorganised chaos” by one player, as the Matildas were knocked out of the Olympics at the earliest stage since they made their debut way back in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics. Gustavsson finishes his Matildas coaching career with just over a 50 per cent win rate, 30 wins from 59 matches.
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Football Australia begin hunt for new Matildas coach
FA chief executive James Johnson is due to touch down in Australia on Saturday after Gustavsson oversaw the Matildas' worst showing at a Games in 24 years. Once back on Australian soil Johnson will begin the hunt for a new coach, with an appointment expected in the coming months.
The decision of who will next lead the Aussie women is critical, with the 2026 Asian Cup on the horizon along with a Women's World Cup the following after. And Johnson has been urged to select a coach who either lives in Australia or is willing to move down under and also has a focus on nurturing future talent. Gustavsson opted to remain in Europe throughout his Matildas coaching tenure and took the job with little to no knowledge of Australia's grassroots program, as he decided regularly to go with experience instead of blooding youth.
"It'll be quite good to have a changing of the guard at this point. Because this (Olympics) is going to be a massive disappointment," Matildas player Elise Kellond-Knight told AAP.
"I'm really curious to see who the candidates will be because this is a really important time for the team." The chance to win the 2026 Asian Cup on home soil will undoubtedly attract top-line interest but the Matildas, who haven't won a major trophy since 2010, are expected to enter a period of transition.
There is time to experiment before the 2027 Brazil World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, but it remains to be seen how many of the Matildas' golden generation will still be around by then. Goalkeeper Lydia Williams has retired from international football while Sam Kerr, Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord, Katrina Gorry, Alanna Kennedy, Clare Polkinghorne and Tameka Yallop - all regulars under Gustavsson - are in or near their 30s.
Australia will therefore need to bring through some youth and ready their juniors to ensure group-stage exits do not become the norm. "Looking forward to the next four-year cycle, some players will step away from the team, and it's a great opportunity to kind of rebirth the Matildas, in a way," Kellond-Knight said.
"Tony started that - he blooded a fair few players that have had quite a bit of experience in the four years. But this might be a really great opportunity.
"So they need to consider a coach that's capable of doing that, capable of bringing through younger players and exposing them to that experience. They won't simply be handed a successful team and told, 'Here, produce something'."
with AAP
