Beyond 90’s Steffen Moebus reflects on the two recent Young Matildas games and compares the experience to a trio of Young Matildas games played five years ago.
As a football-loving Canberra native, 2017 was a great time to be a Canberra United fan, with the two years under head coach Rae Dower perhaps my favourite era of the club. United were at the tail end of a long period of success.
I was fully invested and hungry to see more of our locally-based players, often heading to NPL games to see the likes of Grace Maher, Karly Roestbakken and Laura Hughes in action. I was curious about their progression over time – see here for a discussion with Roestbakken about her growth during the 2018 NPL season – and so when word came that the Young Matildas would be playing in Canberra mid-2017, my interest was immediately piqued.
As an aside, here’s our first ‘then and now’ comparison: this year, Canberra United fans will have the opportunity to see only one of their local heroes play in NPL – Chloe Lincoln. Every other local (Sasha Grove, Cristina Esposito, Lauren Keir, Laura Hughes, Hayley Taylor-Young, Karly Roestbakken, Emma Ilijoski and Grace Maher) is choosing to play outside the Capital Football NPL competition – very much a sign of the times.
In July 2017, the Young Matildas played three games in the space of five days, one against Canada and two against the USA. A 1-0 win against Canada was followed by 2-1 and 4-1 losses to the United States. The team would narrowly miss out on an Under 20’s World Cup berth later that year.
I attended the USA games in that series. The AIS grass fields are beautiful playing surfaces, but there are no stands for spectators, so it was a case of bringing your own fold-up chair. I estimate around 100 spectators attended each, perhaps a little more. I remember feeling pride for Maher in captaining the side and joy in Nicki Flannery’s inclusion, and that Ellie Carpenter played at centre back. The Young Matildas were competitive for a time in both games, but a strong USA squad overran them at the back end of both.
There was no streaming of these games and information about them was not widespread; I recall reaching out to local women’s football doyen Sarah Groube for the first time to obtain details. There was some coverage on the Matildas social media accounts.
Gallery: #YoungMatildas in action against USA – https://t.co/KSegOwz3oD pic.twitter.com/161KWqL874
— CommBank Matildas (@TheMatildas) July 13, 2017
Fast forward five years to April 2022 – this time the Young Matildas headed to Canberra for a two game series against the Junior Football Ferns.
In the first game on Wednesday April 6th at Deakin Stadium, the Young Matildas won 5-1. Australia’s goals came from Jynana Dos Santos, Sarah Hunter, Daniela Galic, Kahli Johnson and Sheridan Gallagher, while Charlotte Lancaster netted for the team in black. In particular, Galic, Hunter and Hannah Jones caught the eye with the way they dominated the midfield, and highlights can be viewed here.
The second game at Viking Park on Sunday April 10th was a much tighter affair (highlights here), with the 1-1 draw a fair reflection of the contest. The Junior Football Ferns made seven changes to their starting lineup, the key inclusion being Mona Walker in central defence. Walker’s composure and organisational nous served to fortify the entire New Zealand back four. Hunter’s long-distance bomb opened the scoring, and Kiwi Millie Clegg countered for the Junior Football Ferns.
Spectator highlights for the two game series included Young Matildas captain Sheridan Gallagher’s physical battle with her opponent Marisa van der Meer, and Sarah Hunter’s role as a playmaker across both games.
One difference between the 2017 series and the 2022 edition was player selections. In 2017 Gary van Egmond selected his strongest lineups for the USA games out of respect for USA’s world ranking, while his desire to fine-tune for the forthcoming Under 20’s World Cup qualification campaign was also a factor.
In contrast, Leah Blayney chose to give no playing time across the two 2022 games to established A-League Women’s players Sasha Grove, Bryleeh Henry, Sally James, Darcey Malone, Claudia Mihocic, Miranda Templeman, Jess Nash, Charlie Rule, and Hayley Taylor-Young, with Hana Lowry only making a short appearance during game two.
It should be noted that Under 20 World Cup qualification wasn’t something Blayney and crew needed to worry about. The withdrawal of DPR Korea paved the way for Australia’s participation, and the green and gold are now heading to Costa Rica in August.
The Young Matildas hadn’t been together for over two years, so Blayney also needed to assess the capabilities of what will be almost an entirely new group of players (most of the players from the 2019 AFC Under 19 Championship will not be eligible for this year’s Under 20 World Cup). Player load, injuries and the opposition also came into play, but the fact that her team had already qualified was likely the greatest factor in the different player selection approach, compared to 2017.
Streaming of the 2022 games (click here for the BarTVSports coverage) was a welcome but very much last-minute decision; the announcement arrived on the same day as game one. Canberra locals Grace Gill and Russ Gibbs provided quality commentary.
Information in the local media for the two 2022 games was available if you went looking for it, but in comparison to the media blitz afforded the senior Matildas team, advertising was very low key.
Given that both squads were chock-full of A-League Women’s players, the teams deserved spectators numbered in the thousands rather than the hundreds that they got.
Perhaps the most baffling decision surrounding the recent games in Canberra was the lost opportunity surrounding game two. At 9.30am on Sunday April 10th, the senior Matildas squad held a Fan Day at Viking Park. Imagine the attendance at the Young Matildas game if the decision had been made to kick the game off at 11.30am or 12 noon (or alternatively, if the Fan Day had commenced later), rather than almost five hours after Fan Day activities commenced. By 2pm, the Fan Day crowd had long dispersed, with only a subset presumably returning for the Young Matildas kickoff.
The Under 20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica will be the 10th edition of the tournament, featuring 16 nations from six confederations, with players born between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2006 eligible to compete. Participating teams will be divided into four groups of four teams, and the official draw is scheduled to take place in San José, Costa Rica on 5 May 2022.
