After Tuesday’s 0-0 draw between the United States and Australia, Matildas head coach Tony Gustavsson admitted that despite all the preparation that went into their final group stage match, there was one element of the match he hadn’t foreseen: the USWNT to sit back.
“The one thing that surprised me a little bit was that they were a bit passive in their pressing and I’m used to seeing them very, very aggressive,” he said in the post-game press conference.
With the scoreless draw (plus Sweden’s 2-0 defeat of New Zealand), the U.S. finished second in Group G with one win, one draw and one loss, putting them ahead of Australia on goal differential. The U.S. will face the Netherlands in the quarterfinals on Friday, a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final. The U.S.’s momentum feels off, though. Across the group stage matches, even in the 6-1 win over the Ferns, the team’s performance has been uncharacteristic.
On Tuesday that was actually part of the game plan for USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski, though. But he did say that the first objective of this match was to win the game. “The second goal was to put a good professional performance in, and not get scored on,” he added. “Obviously we didn’t accomplish the first one, but we did accomplish the second one, which was very important because ultimately it put us in second place.”
The USWNT elected to simply avoid having to defend Sam Kerr by cutting her off completely, which they succeeded at. But despite some early attempts to stretch Australia’s backline (and another goal disallowed for an offside call, this one only by a matter of centimeters thanks to Alex Morgan’s shoulder), there was little pressure from the USWNT throughout the match.
