No Sam Kerr, no permanent coach, a horror showing on debut at a major tournament and now the lowest ranking ever; the shine has well and truly come off the Matildas since they became Australia’s No.1 team at the 2023 World Cup.
The latest FIFA rankings have heaped further misery on a team that was ordinary in three defeats at the SheBelieves Cup in the US that came on the back of a dismal Olympic campaign in Paris after which coach Tony Gustavsson stepped away.
Without injured captain Sam Kerr to bail them out with her bevy of goals, the Matildas have slumped to 16 on the world rankings, their joint-worst spot since they were introduced in 2003.
It’s a position they last held two decades ago in 2005.
Hayley Raso and her Matildas teammates have fallen off the pace. Picture: Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images North America / Getty Images via AFPSource: AFP
As Football Australia stalls on appointing a successor to Gustavsson, with Tom Sermanni doing his best in the interim, the Matildas have battled for success since an exhilarating run to the World Cup semi-finals on home soil in 2023.
The Matildas were still in their familiar top-10 position this time two years ago.
But after defeats to Japan, the US and Colombia in the SheBelieves Cup, and performances that raised serious questions given the quality of the line-up, albeit without Kerr, the slide down the rankings has hit a new low.
The Matildas will next be in action in a two-game series against Korea Republic in April.
It’s unclear whether Kerr, who also endured an ugly court hearing in the UK during which she was found not guilty of the racially aggravated harassment of a police officer, will be back for those games.
In a match between the world No. 8 Japanese and No. 15 Aussies, it looked like it would have been a close match as the Matildas look to put a dire 2024 behind them.
Unfortunately, it was a horror show in the Matildas’ first match since December as Asia’s true powerhouse put the Aussies to the sword.
The result was the biggest ever loss by the Matildas to Japan and should have been much worse with some terrible shots, but what was worse was that the Aussies quite literally didn’t even fire a shot, with no shots on goal throughout the 90 minutes.
At halftime, the commentators were stunned by the 2-0 deficit, with calls for the Matildas to break out of their malaise.
Host Tara Rushton said it was “difficult to watch”.
“It looks like a team that doesn’t really know where they’re at with each other, and a little bit flat and bereft of energy.”
Aussie football veteran Andy Harper agreed.
“This was beyond less than acceptable. This is nowhere near good enough,” he said on Paramount+.
“Tom Sermanni came in, wanted to build stability with this first game, get off to a winning start. This team knows each other intimately. There’s almost 1000 caps spread across … this is so far away from being an acceptable first half of football from our national team in a preparation for an Asian Cup which we’re hosting.”
The Matildas were thrashed by Japan. Photo: Jack Gorman/Getty Images/AFPSource: AFP
Former Matilda Grace Gill said the team would have to “take a good hard look at themselves at halftime”, hitting out at the team’s wasteful first half performance.
The only half chance the Matildas had a strong ball from Kyra Cooney-Cross that found an off-side Caitlin Foord but there was little else that could be considered a positive from a dire first half.
Even the Japanese goals were far from screamers with Mina Tanaka scoring off a weak strike after a failed header clearance from Australia.
The second was little more than a tap in after Clare Hunt and Alanna Kennedy ran into each other.
And the Matildas were lucky to not be further behind after a near-certain header clanged off the crossbar.
Gill said the goals were “easily preventable, easily fixed”.
“It was not controlling the ball, it was not settling things down, everything was going Japan’s way,” Gill says.
“Those (Japan) goals are easily defendable … it’s just defensively poor.
“It feels like the intensity is not there.”
But it was more of the same in the second half with the third goal five minutes after the break.
Despite a few positive moments from Japan showed the gulf in class with a sharp passing move giving Maika Hamano the easiest of tap ins.
At full-time, Harper called it “very very poor”.
“Disappointing doesn’t really come close to covering it,” Harper said.
“It was a morning which simply did not work.”
Hayley Raso reacts for the Matildas. Photo by Jack Gorman/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
Gill said it exposed the “chasm” between the teams.
Harper said the loss exposed a hard truth for Australian football.
“We’re having the same discussion after a Matildas game against Japan as we have after a men’s game against Japan,” he said.
“This is not a team against another team, this is a system against another system.
“While Japan over five, 10, 15 years have made vast progress on a technical level with their players, we sit here sending out national teams out and the chasm between Japan and Australia technically seems to be getting wider, not narrower.”
Fans were quick to take aim at the performance, with criticisms focusing on the fact the Matildas still have an interim coach.
Sport broadcaster Daniel Garb slammed the performance.
“That’s a disaster for The Matildas with as strong a side as it can name at present. Heaviest ever loss to Japan. Concerning a year out from a home Asian Cup,” he said.
“Tom Sermanni is a great of the women’s game & is not to blame but they’ve got to get a move on with a permanent coach.”
The West Australian’s Ben Smith commented: “One shot on target. Matildas in dire need of a direction and a coach, because right now they’re just spinning the wheels. Sermanni in a tough spot, but there doesn’t feel like there’s any jeopardy for senior players.”
“This she believes cup was the perfect time to have a full-time coach in camp with the Matildas. Why there isn’t one yet is insane,” one fan said.
Another added: “The Matildas look seriously out of form and poorly organised. They are a metaphor for @FootbalAUS. We have NO coach and the classy Japanese have an Australian assistant coach. We have a thin bench and a porous defence. Reform is an urgent need.”
There was nothing to celebrate for the Matildas. Photo by Maria Lysaker/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
Speaking after the game, defender Ellie Carpenter lamented a horrific day at the office.
“It was a bad performance from us and we need to regroup, refocus for the game against the US,” she said.
“I think we weren’t all on the same page with the press. But like I said, it wasn’t good enough tonight and we just need to refocus, regroup and focus on the next match.”
It gets no easier for the Aussies with the Matildas facing hosts and world No. 1 the US on Monday before finishing against Colombia next Thursday.
Matildas interim coach Tom Sermanni has praised the “fantastic job” done by Steph Catley as Australia’s captain in the absence of Sam Kerr, saying it’s “irrelevant” whether the Chelsea star is restored as skipper when she returns from a long-term knee injury.
Kerr hasn’t played since rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee in January last year.
Since then, star Arsenal left-back Catley has handled the captaincy with aplomb, while Kerr’s stocks have fallen after she was charged – and subsequently found not guilty – of racially aggravated harassment of a police officer after calling him “f***ing stupid and white”.
Despite the not guilty verdict, there have been calls to strip Kerr of the Matildas’ captaincy, with Football Australia in no hurry to make a decision on leadership as the star striker remains sidelined and not part of the national squad for the four-nation She Believes Cup in the United States.
When asked on Thursday if he would be comfortable with Kerr being reinstated as Australia’s captain, Sermanni didn’t give a yes or no response.
Sam Kerr remains sidelined with a knee injury. Picture: Justin Setterfield/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
“That will be a decision that gets made when that happens, and whatever decision gets made, it gets made,” Sermanni said ahead of the Matildas’ clash with Japan in Houston on Friday morning (AEDT).
“How that decision gets made, who makes it, and whose involved in it, I really don’t know, because it’s really completely and utterly not part of our focus, because at this minute in time. Sam is injured.
“She’s been injured for 13 months, hasn’t played an international for 16 months, and the team is just getting on with its normal business, so it’s not part of the conversation.”
Sermanni said the priority regarding Kerr was getter her “healthy as quickly and as safely as possible, and to get her back on the field”.
“Particularly in relation to me, the captaincy issue is kind of quite irrelevant, because by the time she comes back into the team, I might not be here, so there’s really no point in me commenting on that,” he said.
Steph Catley leads the Matildas out for the second half of the game against Germany at the Paris Olympics.Source: Supplied
“Whoever comes in, whoever that coach is, who knows what’s going to happen, so really from my perspective, (and) from the team’s perspective, it’s something that’s really not that relevant at the moment, and to be honest, Steph Catley has stepped in as captain and done a fantastic job.”
Sermanni said he been in contact with Kerr since the end of her court case in London last week.
“We’ve checked in. We haven’t actually had conversations, but we’ve been in touch through text, so we’ve actually been in contact with each other,” he said.
“It’s been a pretty long couple of weeks for Sam, so the last thing she needs is people constantly badgering her at this time.
“We’ve had some contact. She knows what we’re thinking. Our physios are keeping in touch, (and) keeping in touch with Chelsea, so the lines of communication are very much open.”
Matildas interim coach Tom Sermanni has praised Steph Catley’s work as Australia’s captain. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
He said he had yet to address the Kerr matter with the Matildas squad in the current camp.
“It hasn’t really come on the radar,” Sermanni said.
“We’ve just come into camp and really not had much time to do much. The team’s in good spirits, upbeat, and if there’s anything to be discussed about (Kerr), then, we’ll discuss it at some stage during this tournament.”
Sermanni was unsure whether he would still be in charge of the Matildas – who have been without a permanent coach since Tony Gustavsson’s departure following the team’s disappointing effort at last year’s Paris Olympics – for the two-match series in NSW against South Korea in April, when Kerr could be involved.
“I honestly don’t know. Basically I’m here as long as I’m required in the job, and if it finishes after this tournament, then so be it,” he said.
“At some stage, and probably I would suggest between now ad the middle of this year, there will be somebody else in the hot seat.”
A full-time replacement for departed Socceroos coach Graham Arnold is set to be made before next month’s must-win World Cup qualifiers against China and Japan — but top candidate Kevin Muscat is reportedly already out of the running.
The former A-League winning coach and player was mooted among a trio of contenders to take the helm, but according to The Age, he isn’t interested.
The Age reports that Muscat rather holds ambitions of following the coaching trail blazed by Ange Postecoglou and leaping to Europe from his post in Asia.
Graham Arnold was said to be out of gas after a 0-0 draw with Indonesia. (Photo by Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Muscat’s named was mentioned as a possible target but he would have to be lured away from those ambitions, and his lucrative job as coach of Shanghai Port, who he has guided to the top of the Chinese Super League in his first season in charge.
Other names being floated included former Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers boss Tony Popovic, Frenchman Herve Renard, who coached Saudi Arabia at the FIFA 2022 World Cup, Western United coach John Aloisi and former Central Coach boss Nick Montgomery, who is now Postecoglou’s assistant at Tottenham.
Football Australia chief executive James Johnson on Friday said he was confident of making an appointment in the “next week or two” to succeed 61-year-old Arnold, who, after six years in charge shocked the football fraternity by resigning on Friday.
It came in the aftermath of a poor start to the latest round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers and before the Socceroos go into camp for next month’s international window.
Johnson said FA had been prepared for a “tired” and “out of gas” Arnold’s decision and had already started the process of finding his replacement, with Australian and foreign candidates being considered.
“We are already in the market for a new coach,” Johnson said.
“We know the market, we know who’s available and I want to confirm that we will move quickly to appointing a permanent coach before the next window.”
Johnson said the Socceroos – who host China in Adelaide on October 10 before travelling to Saitama to meet Japan five days later – were in a different situation to the Matildas, who this week were given an interim replacement for previous coach Tony Gustavsson in Tom Sermanni.
“The Matildas are at the start of a cycle. We have time with the Matildas. We don’t have another competitive match until the women’s Asian Cup in 2026, so we want to make sure that we get the right person in at the right time,” he said.
Kevin Muscat won the J-League title in Japan in 2022. (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP)Source: AFP
“The Socceroos are mid-calendar. They are two games into 10 round three (qualifying) matches. We need to move quickly. We need to get into fifth gear.
“(The Socceroos) have a match in less than three weeks time (against China in Adelaide), so our plan is not to appoint an interim coach.
“Our plan is to go into the market and appoint a permanent coach, a coach that we believe shares our vision and will get the best out of this team going into the World Cup in 2026.
“We want a coach that’s tactically astute. We want a coach that understands the Australian mentality and understands our players. We want a coach that we have confidence in that can guide us through a complicated Asian qualifying process (for the World Cup).
“We’re very confident that we will go through. We’ve just got to get this appointment right.”
