Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson won’t be handing out jerseys in the Women’s World Cup third-placed play-off against Sweden.
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Key points:
- The Matildas take on Sweden in the third/fourth play-off in Brisbane at 1800 AEST Saturday
- Sweden have finished in third place three times at the Women’s World Cup
- Australia has used 16 of its 20 available players over the course of the tournament
The value of the penultimate game is often debated but the Matildas players, and their coach, have made it clear they’re set on victory at Brisbane Stadium on Saturday.
Whether that involves the Swede resting any of his weary starters, who looked all out of legs in Wednesday’s 3-1 semifinal loss to England, is yet to be seen.
Gustavsson deployed 16 of his 20 outfield players — but Tameka Yallop, Alex Chidiac and Charli Grant were barely used, while Cortnee Vine’s minutes decreased as the tournament progressed.
Midfielder Clare Wheeler, full-back Courtney Nevin, defender Aivi Luik and the contentiously selected Kyah Simon (knee), haven’t played a minute, nor have back-up goalkeepers Teagan Micah and Lydia Williams.
Wheeler, Nevin and Micah are yet to make their World Cup debuts.
Alanna Kennedy will miss the match with concussion, but clearly there won’t be any minutes handed out for the sake of it.
“If it was emotionally, those players would play because they deserve to play,” Gustavsson told reporters.
“But I can’t pick based on emotions.
“This is a third-place game. We’re playing for a medal. I’m going to make sure we have a line-up that is the strongest starting line-up we can have but also the strongest finishing line-up.
“It’s not about giving players experience just for the sake of giving experience. This is a game to win.”
But winning could require Gustavsson turning to his bench.
Matildas great Elise Kellond-Knight, currently sidelined with a ruptured Achilles, hoped that would be the case.
“It’s a really short turnaround. The shortest we’ve had, it’s a massive emotional toll,” Kellond-Knight told AAP.
“The girls look fatigued on Wednesday, so I think to get the best performance, yeah, we probably do need to freshen up the team.
“But that’s ultimately Tony’s decision. He hasn’t done that the whole tournament — why would he do it now?
“So I’m curious to see where it goes. But it’ll come down to the mental side.
“We have that added edge — the home crowd will push us. The fact that we have never medalled is a massive advantage for us — Sweden have been there.
“So I don’t know if they have that added level of motivation we have because we don’t want to go home empty-handed.”
Sweden are something of third-place specialists at major tournaments.
The Blågult have three bronze medals at World Cups — equal with the USA for the most of any nation.
Additionally, Sweden have finished third or joint-third at five of the 11 European Championships they have qualified for.
Kellond-Knight believed backing in fresh legs could reap rewards for Australia.
“It’s going to be hard [to back up] — I think that’s why having fresh personnel come in is another advantage,” she said.
“It’s not just you literally have got the kilometres in your legs but you’ve got that mental strength because you’ve been witnessing the whole tournament, waiting like a charged-up battery, in a way.
“Being able to unleash that in people that haven’t had many minutes — it can be pretty powerful.”
AAP/ABC
