- Australians have been fighting since the Paris Olympics
- Crashed to a tepid draw against Switzerland
- Face a tough job against a strong German team
The Matildas know what Mary Fowler can do with the ball at her feet.
The challenge facing interim coach Tom Sermanni is how to make that happen more often.
Switzerland successfully quelled the 21-year-old’s influence in Saturday’s 1-1 draw, with Fowler often dropping into much deeper positions.
Sermanni is determined to have given Manchester City star Fowler, who is tipped to be the future of the Matildas attack, firing in their upcoming friendly against world number 4 Germany on Monday night (Tuesday 4: 10am AEDT).
“That’s one of the things we’re looking to do: put her in a position where she hurts the opposition a little bit more and obviously try to put her in a position where she has more possession of the ball,” Sermanni said. .
“To be fair to Switzerland, they did, it seemed like a deliberate plan to close us down on our right side, with Ellie (Carpenter) and Mary, and I think it made it difficult for them to get into the game.
“But with the type of game it will be against Germany, I think it’s an opportunity for her to have more space, to be able to have more possession of the ball and hopefully create more for us.”
Mary Fowler struggled to make an impact against Switzerland in a very worrying sign for the Matildas
Interim coach Tom Sermanni (pictured) has been criticized for leaving Fowler out of position
While Fowler is excellent in tight spaces, Sermanni was asked if players were potentially reluctant to give him the ball in those positions for fear of losing it.
He believed it was a combination of that and that Fowler needed to look like he wanted to be in the know.
“It’s a good point and, in essence, it should be an easy point to solve, in the sense that even the players talk to each other: ‘Just give me the ball and I can handle it,'” he said.
Sermanni was determined not to think about Germany’s 3-0 victory over Australia in the first group game of the Olympics, hoping that the teams would be better matched.
But after the Germans beat England 4-3 at Wembley, expect a much more open and attacking encounter in Duisberg than the meeting with Switzerland.
The Matildas have struggled since their groundbreaking top-four finish at the FIFA World Cup (pictured, the team beat France to reach the semi-finals of the tournament).
Fowler and the Matildas won’t have much time to sort out their issues with a short recovery period before their match against powerhouse Germany.
Sermanni stressed the importance of defending strongly first and then allowing Australia’s attacking weapons to shine.
It will be an emotional match for Germany, who will send off superstar forward Alexandra Popp.
“It’s going to be a tough environment and interestingly enough, when you look at the Matildas over the last few years, they’re probably in an environment where the fans have been on their side,” Sermanni said.
“So it’s actually going to be a different kind of experience and these are the kinds of things we have to deal with.”
“One of the big things we’re going to need to discuss before the game is how do we quiet that noise and not get caught up in the excitement of the game, get caught up in the excitement of the crowd, get caught up in it.” in the middle of the noise… and really focus on football.