Australia coach Tony Gustavsson was dealing with questions on Friday after a surprising 3-2 defeat to Nigeria left the Women’s World Cup co-host “teetering on the edge of something deep and dark”.
The Matildas may have sealed their place within the final 16 with victory in entrance of a sell-out Brisbane crowd on Thursday and took the lead in first-half harm time by Emily van Egmond.
But Nigeria struck again on the stroke of half-time by Uchenna Kanu and scored twice extra within the second half earlier than Gustavsson’s aspect pulled a objective again deep into harm time on the finish of the match.
The defeat left Australia needing to beat Olympic champion Canada on Monday to remain within the competitors.
The Swede Gustavsson was beneath stress afterwards to elucidate why he left it till the 82nd minute to make his first substitution — they had been dropping 3-1 by then.
And when he did make his first change, he took off an attacker and introduced on a defender in Clare Polkinghorne, and pushed defender Alanna Kennedy up entrance.
That uncovered Australia’s lack of goalscoring choices with Sam Kerr injured, and Kennedy did rating very late on, however Gustavsson’s techniques had been however within the highlight.
Former males’s worldwide goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer advised Optus Sport: “I think when he looks back at those substitutions when he made them and the type of substitutions he made, I think he’ll look back with a little bit of regret.”
Former Matilda Amy Chapman agreed: “He needed to go for it. There’s a 3-1 gap there. It’s too late.”
Schwarzer put the query to Gustavsson, who replied: “As a coach, you always evaluate after the game, do you do it in the right moment, when do you do those subs?
Also Read: FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023: Fired-up Horan shows mettle as US co-captain, says coach
“I’m going to look back at it and see if it was the right moment.”
Australia had loads of the ball, particularly within the first half, however Nigeria had been extra scientific.
Local media mentioned Gustavsson ought to have completed higher together with his substitutions, but additionally felt the Matildas had sufficient possibilities to win the sport — 27 makes an attempt at objective to Nigeria’s 11.
“After coming into this tournament riding a wave of positivity — especially compared to the other teams in their group — the Matildas are teetering on the edge of something deep and dark and vastly cold,” mentioned Australian broadcaster ABC.
