Joe Montemurro says the Matildas “need to be better” to win the Asian Cup final, encouraging his team to stay proactive on the ball instead of falling back into old habits.
Australia adhered more closely to Montemurro’s preferred possession-based philosophy in Tuesday’s 2-1 semi-final win over China, in an evenly poised contest decided by outstanding goals to Caitlin Foord and Sam Kerr rather than the overall balance of play.
But while the style was in stark contrast to the defend-to-the-death quarter-final smash-and-grab against North Korea – praised by the coach as “tournament football” – he was less convinced by what he’d seen at Optus Stadium.
“Our objective to get to the final is complete, but we know deep down in our hearts that we need to be better,” Montemurro said. “We need to be more continuous in terms of play, but we found something again and we got through.
“It’s a bit of momentum. It’s a bit of belief. And even though we didn’t find the continuity that we wanted with the ball, the patches that we did do the things right were good. So it’s now putting all that together.”
The match in all was perhaps the Matildas’ most expansive of the tournament, and it ultimately produced the desired effect against a physical and well-organised China outfit. But Montemurro highlighted the team’s hardwired tendency to drop deep instead of advancing and dictating terms.
“After we scored, for some reason, I don’t know, we tend to drop off a little bit,” he said. “And when you’ve got another three metres to cover or another four metres to cover, it makes it hard, especially with ball-playing teams.
“We lifted the line a little bit. We allowed the midfielders to push a little bit higher, and we were getting on the ball. We were able to play out a lot easier because we solved a few problems in midfield. It was just that tactical adjustment we had to make. But again, and this is just something that’s just going to evolve, we just need to find that continuity of doing that more often as part of our DNA.
“We tend to go back into old habits. I don’t know if they’re good habits or bad habits; they’re habits that I don’t like because to play modern football, we have to be proactive, we have to be high and we have to be more brave.
Montemurro made two changes to the line-up, starting Kyra Cooney-Cross for the first time this tournament, before giving Emily van Egmond the briefest cameo off the bench to confirm her record 170th cap.
Steph Catley also returned from concussion, but not at left fullback. Instead, the vice-captain adopted her Arsenal role of centre-back, with Kaitlyn Torpey once again impressing on the left flank. Clare Hunt partnered Catley for the first half but was subbed off just after the break, having been responsible for the error that led to China’s penalty. She was replaced by Wini Heatley, who beat China’s press well.
While Hayley Raso had also cleared concussion protocols after two matches out, the winger – usually a walk-up starter – was an unused substitute.
“I just felt that Hayley probably wouldn’t have found the space that she needed,” Montemurro said. “I was hoping it was going to open up a little bit more towards the end, but it didn’t, and we needed more to hold the middle areas.
“But you could just feel the momentum of this team, you could just feel the belief of this team, you could feel the belief of all 26 players that are involved, that they want to do something.
“We scored two amazing goals. Obviously the first one is very much to my liking. The second one was a bit of a transition moment, and Sam is amazing to finish it there. That’s tournament football. So that’s a big question mark at times, to be honest.”
