Twenty-four years ago, the Matildas lost to Germany 3-0 in their opening Olympics group game. Will history continue to repeat itself in Paris?
Was it when Jule Brand tore into the Matildas ' penalty area before dinking past two scrambling defenders and sending her shot over the crossbar in the ninth minute?
That result, he said at the time, was bad, but understandable: Australia was missing several key players, including Catley, Yallop, Ellie Carpenter, Katrina Gorry, and Kyra Cooney-Cross, and included several new ones, like Beattie Goad, Amy Sayer, and Indiah-Paige Riley, as the team began what would become a long-term rebuild.
Similar to the warm-up friendly against Canada a week ago, Australia seemed to be a half-beat behind its opponents, lacking the technical sharpness and tactical clarity that is required to go far in tournaments like these. There were small pockets of progress. After Catley's injury delay, the Matildas looked calmer, more structured, got some breath back in their lungs. Well-timed substitutes introduced fresher legs, with Sharn Frier and Michelle Heyman carving out their own solo half-chances through sheer stubbornness alone.
"We've done everything we can to try and prepare for that so it wouldn't be too big of a surprise, but I don't think we were ready for it."Switching freely between formations and tactics, pouncing in transition one minute to controlling possession and breaking through lines the next, the Germans played like a team that knows it doesn't have time to warm into a tournament that has just six games between them and gold.
"Our scout identified that they're very dangerous on that one: we trained it, we focused on it, but they still scored from two set plays. It's true that they're missing their best ever striker, who played a pivotal role in their last Olympics run in Tokyo, and whose leadership on and off the field was unquantifiable.
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