Matildas' European conquerors inspires new generation in Argentina win
Argentina's women's football team doesn't have their own Leo Messi, yet. And so a group of mostly up-and-coming Matildas defeated the 33rd-ranked Argentinians with ease in their friendly on Friday in Melbourne. In the 2-0 victory a debut goal to forward Kahli Johnson was the centrepiece of a party celebrating the bright prospects for Australian women's football.
Related: Kahli Johnson header is fitting marker for Tom Sermanni in Matildas win
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But departing coach Tom Sermanni has warned the music may not play forever. On top of the concerns he expressed earlier this week on the lack of progress in the A-League Women, on Friday he warned there was now an arms race in women's football and Australia risks losing touch. That a chance of ever winning a World Cup may soon diminish.
'It's actually getting harder because the big countries are investing in women's football,' he said after Friday's game, the 70-year-old once again in a reflective move as he celebrated 150 games in charge of the national team.
'If you go back eight to 10 years, Spain weren't on the radar, England were okay, but they weren't as big as they are now. What's happened is that there's far more investment in the game worldwide. And if South America comes alive, that will make it even tougher.'
Argentina have won the men's World Cup three times, and are the current holders. But their women's team has for a long time been ignored and dismissed. As recently as last year, four players abandoned a camp due to poor pay and conditions.
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The team's coach Germán Portanova said women's football is still only nascent in his country. 'Now it's really just beginning,' he said. 'Up until recently, in Argentina, it was practically frowned upon for girls to play soccer. So we as a society are developing, and in women's football as well.'
Sermanni revealed he has had both positive and negative responses to his comments on Thursday that Australia has 'grossly underinvested' in the women's game. He added 'hopefully there'll be a positive reaction out of that'.
The veteran coach appears to be talking more freely in the knowledge he will no longer be in the job after the second friendly in Canberra on Tuesday. Joe Montemurro is tipped to succeed him, leaving around eight months before the home Asian Cup campaign. 'While I've got a position where I can influence things, then it's important that I do that,' Sermanni said.
'You've got to keep at the cutting edge, you can't afford to stay still, and you can't afford to go backwards, it's as simple as that,' he said. 'And it's important that we do that with everybody on board and everybody pushing in the right direction, and that's A-League people, FFA [Football Australia] people and club people.'
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Fortunately, the Matildas' loyal support provides a strong foundation. Just across town on Friday, Melbourne's two best AFL teams Collingwood and Hawthorn were playing. Common sporting logic suggests holding two major events on the same night in the same city cannibalises each crowd. But the turnout on Friday at Marvel was still 43,020, and many of the empty seats were those of AFL-loving stadium club members who declined to attend.
Speak to fans, and it is clear many are free of the strictures of the past. A father, Gerry Donovan, was there with his two teenage daughters Alyssa and Zara. Thanks to Ange Postecoglou, the family supports Tottenham – in men's football at least. But in women's the daughters proudly follow Arsenal, Spurs' traditional London rival.
Aged 15, Zara wore a Gunners shirt with Kyra Cooney-Cross's name on the back, and before the game said she would only be 'a little' disappointed if the midfielder didn't play, because she did have a good excuse. 'They have been celebrating all week,' she said.
Posts on social media of Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord, and Cooney-Cross enjoying the Champions League triumph have been hard to avoid. Few appreciated the European achievement as much as the other Matildas players, who held a surprise welcome party when the trio arrived on Wednesday night.
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Against Argentina, those players – thanks to Johnson's first-half header and a fortunate cross-cum-shot from winger Kaitlyn Torpey – didn't need their European conquerors on the field. Their presence in camp was felt however, so soon after lifting one of football's greatest prizes.
'Seeing them do that, and them coming back in and being a part of the group, it definitely fills you with a lot of confidence,' Johnson said, beaming after her debut goal. 'And to know that's the calibre of player that Australia can produce is pretty cool.'
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