Latest news with #ALeagueWomen
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Sermanni mounts Canberra defence ahead of final game
Tom Sermanni's 151st and final game at the helm of the Matildas will be about setting the team up for its next coach. But he also used his final pre-match press conference to go in to bat for Canberra United, whose A-League Women future remains constantly under threat. Sermanni is set to finish up his eight-and-a-half-month stint as interim coach after Monday night's clash with Argentina in Canberra, with Joe Montemurro poised to be announced as full-time coach. The women's football stalwart last week fired up about a lack of professionalism within the A-League Women. On Sunday, he said of the sold-out Matildas game at GIO : "It's a great indication that we need to keep Canberra United in the A-League Women's competition. "This is a critically important team in A-League Women's football, and a critically important team for the development of football. "Because what we want to see is more players coming out of places like Canberra, and going through the A-League Women's, and then coming into the international arena. "So I will certainly make sure I do my best to make sure Canberra stay in the competition." When asked how exactly he planned to make that happen, Sermanni said: "I will try and make sure that I use, if I have some influence, the people that are part of the decision-making process. "I think I caused a little bit of controversy apparently recently just talking about the A-League Women, and I intend to continue doing that to make sure that our competition stays vibrant, stays national, and that we have a team in it from Canberra." Arsenal trio Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross are poised to start their first game since their Women's Champions League triumph. Sermanni will likely test more young players to build depth for the incoming coach ahead of the Asian Cup. "Since coming into the job it's just really been important to try and keep everything stable, everything ticking along so that hopefully the new coach comes in and can then really start to take the program forward in the direction that he or she wants to take it in," Sermanni said. "For me it would just be business as normal, and I think we're in the situation with a squad where a lot of players are looking forward towards the Asian Cup, and there's a lot of competition for places in that final 23-player squad. "So these games are important for us to continue hopefully a winning momentum, hopefully continuing to play better football. "But at the same time they're important for individual players too, like Kahli (Johnson) to come into the team and put pressure on other players for selection in the squad next year." Canberra United star Michelle Heyman will have plenty of fans on hand. "I told her I'm expecting at least a goal," Sermanni said. "She's playing in front of her home crowd. She'll play tomorrow night at some stage in the game."
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
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. 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. 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.' 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. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion 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. 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.'
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Debutant Kahli Johnson shines in comfortable win for Matildas over Argentina
It felt rather appropriate, all things considered, that Tom Sermanni marked his 150th in charge of the Matildas by making Kahli Johnson the 237th player to represent Australia. Because while the 2010 Asian Cup may have provided the 70-year-old with his crowning achievement, his is a more than three-decade legacy built upon the stories and achievements of those who he has given an opportunity. So many of the pathways that are found in the women's game in Australia wouldn't exist without his guidance, and of the current golden generation alone, the likes of Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley and Katrina Gorry were all given intentional debuts under his charge. It became even more fitting when Johnson headed home the 38th-minute goal that kickstarted the Matildas to a 2-0 win over Argentina at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium on Friday evening, a game lacking in much of the way of fireworks but in which the hosts never looked in danger of falling. Kaitlyn Torpey put the result beyond doubt in the 69th minute, the winger's second international goal blessed by the footballing gods when her shanked attempt to send in a cross from the right floated right over the head of Abigaíl Chaves and inside the far post. But it's Johnson who people will be talking about after tonight. The 21-year-old took a leap into the unknown during the middle of the A-League Women season, moving from Western United to newly launched Canadian competition the Northern Super League and has kicked on with three goals in six games for the Calgary Wild. Now, having scored a goal every other game in Canada, she's become a senior international, with a goal under her belt, and the latest in a long line of players whose stories include Sermanni. The ball to find Johnson was delivered with pinpoint accuracy by Charli Grant, who galloped down the flank before sending in a perfectly weighted cross for her teammate – who replays showed may have strayed just into an offside position – to send across the face of Chaves. Though not all that much older than Johnson, the defender is something of a grizzled young veteran in the current setup given she is still only 23 years old but she is now in her fourth year in the national setup, with 34 appearances in green and gold under her belt. Probably helped by not needing to do much defending – Argentina would fail to register a shot on target until the 80th minute – the Spurs flanker was one of the Matildas best on the evening. So, too, was Johnson, who flashed intent early on when she won the ball on the left and whipped in crosses in the sixth and seventh minutes and who put a shot just wide in the 49th in search of a brace. Given the chance to start as the nine once more, clearly being positioned by Sermanni as the heir-apparent for Kerr, Holly McNamara showed off her determined, angry worth as well: sending a volleyed attempt from a Grant cross wide in the first half and fizzing an effort outside the post in the 61st. Clare Wheeler got in on the act, too, firing off a 72nd minute attempt that Chaves did incredibly well to get down and keep out. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion Indeed, with the likes of Kerr, Gorry, Ellie Carpenter and Hayley Raso all absent from this squad and the Arsenal trio of Catley, Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross staying on the bench after their late arrival into camp after winning the Champions League, Friday was an evening for the unheralded and rising members of the squad. It almost had to be, given that Football Australia has indicated a new coach will be coming in next month, rendering these games as something of an audition. But it was also a celebration of an underappreciated legend in Sermanni, delivered in fitting fashion.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Sermanni slams inadequate A-League W
FOT: Matildas' coach Tom Sermanni has taken a shot at the state of the A-League Women's competition and the effect it's having on the sport in Australia.
The Guardian
24-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Melbourne City Women suffer penalty agony in Asian Champions League final
Melbourne City suffered a heartbreaking and drama-filled defeat by Wuhan Jiangda on penalties to fall short in the Women's Asian Champions League final, going down 5-4 having had a chance to win the shootout by that scoreline. With scores locked at 1-1 after a chaotic 90 minutes and extra-time, City's captain, Rebekah Stott, had the chance at 4-4 in the penalty shootout to seal victory, in front of a hostile crowd in Wuhan. Instead, she shot tamely straight at Chen Chen. Zhao Yuxin put Wuhan in front and Chen saved Bryleeh Henry's penalty to seal a remarkable shootout victory. 'It's gutting to lose like that,' Stott said. 'I think we played well. We dominated the game. We should have come away with the win, but football is like that sometimes. It's disappointing. We're gutted.' City had high hopes of a treble after claiming the A-League Women premiership in an unbeaten regular season, but lost to Central Coast in the semi-finals, then came up short on Saturday night. They have qualified for next season's Champions League through winning the premiership. 'It's been unbelievable to be able to compete in this,' Stott said. 'We've loved every minute of it. Obviously it hurts now, but to be a part of this competition has been so game changing for us and for women's football it's really important.' City were unable to crack open Wuhan in the opening 45 minutes, though Malena Mieres made an incredible fingertip save to deny Wang Shuang a cracking long range goal with the final kick of the half. Three days after scoring a 94th-minute semi-final winner over Incheon Red Angels, the 17-year-old Shelby McMahon headed home a wonderful free-kick from Leticia McKenna in the 76th minute to put City in front. Henry thought she'd made it 2-0 in injury time but the goal was chalked off via the video assistant referee for a foul she had committed in the buildup. From the subsequent free-kick, Mariana Speckmaier was penalised for handball – after a header ricocheted into her arm – via a VAR review and Wang Shuang equalised from the spot in the 98th minute. City had two late chances to win the game in extra time, while Stott was lucky not to be penalised for a handball in the 103rd minute. McKenna dragged a shot wide in the 116th minute while Leah Davidson was unable to meet Mariana Speckmaier's wonderful squaring ball in the 121st minute and the game went to spot-kicks. 'Once it went into extra time, it got quite hectic, and not a lot of football was played,' Stott said. 'I think we still could have got a goal. But it wasn't meant to be.' The brilliant Mieres' save from Song Duan at 3-3 put City in charge of the shootout, but they could not seal the deal.
