That’s the mindset every powerhouse team wants to have.
Australia made sure to let the Filipinas know how wide the gap is—in terms of skill and level of play—between them at the moment. On Sunday at the Optus Stadium, the host team lorded over the Philippine contingent with an 8-0 victory in the second round of the Olympic Qualifiers. From the onset, there was just something in the Matilda’s demeanor that showed they were about to make a statement.
After the match, Australia’s Caitlin Foord divulged the thought process that her team had heading into contest.
“Before Tony came in, we said to him where we think we struggled as a team and that was playing against lower-ranked teams. We just felt like we couldn’t step up,” Foord admitted.
The Australian winger was referring to Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson. According to Foord, the Swedish tactician addressed the problem, to which she and her teammates responded accordingly by bringing their A game against the Filipinas.
“His message was reminding us about that and that today was an opportunity to change that mindset of the team. And we went out there and proved that and showed that,” said the Australian booter who scored a hat trick the Matildas' dominant victory.
In other words, the Matildas did not play down to the level of their competition. Instead, they proved they were far above it.
Australia is ranked 11th in the world, while the Philippines is 44th. And the former made sure that the ranking disparity would reflect in the scoreboard by the time the smoke cleared. Put simply, it was truly a statement game by the hosts.
“We kind of have set a benchmark and a level now where Australia expects us to play at and we have to live up to that every single game we step into the pitch,” Foord claimed.
Australia is set to face Chinese Taipei next, while the Filipinas are set to have a date with Iran on November 1.
(MDB)