Football

Consistency of Matildas squad at odds with inconsistency of messaging | Samantha Lewis


In early November, as the Matildas were preparing to host Chile in a two-game friendly series, head coach Ante Milicic specified what players should do in order to be part of the national team conversation. “Can you play as many minutes as possible at the highest possible level?” he asked. “It’s all well and good to say, ‘I want to go to this league’, but are you getting the minutes? Are you playing? What’s better for you?”

His comments were made in reference to Sam Kerr’s then-unannounced move to Chelsea FC, but another player who took the suggestion to heart – and who was conspicuously absent from November’s friendlies – was Lisa De Vanna. Her move to Italian giants Fiorentina last August signalled her intent to meet Milicic’s demands: to get minutes at the highest possible level.

The veteran striker has, so far, been vindicated by her move: she has already improved upon her goal and assist tally from her 2018-19 W-League season with Sydney FC and is rapidly approaching the same number of minutes she played all of last year, with Serie A Women only halfway completed. Her recent run has also included two appearances in the Women’s Champions League against Arsenal in the round of 32, and with Fiorentina currently sitting second on Italy’s ladder, the likelihood of further Champions League football is strong.

And yet, when the Matildas squad was announced this week for February’s Olympic qualifiers, De Vanna’s name was omitted once again. As Australia’s all-time leading goal-scorer, De Vanna is the most significant and questionable of absences, particularly given her game-changing abilities and vast big-tournament experience.

It is also an omission that squares oddly with the consistency of the rest of the squad. Of the 23 players chosen for the 2019 Women’s World Cup, which included De Vanna, 19 have been recalled for this 20-player qualifying squad. The final spot has been given to Melbourne Victory centre-back Jenna McCormick, who impressed Milicic after debuting for the Matildas against Chile in November.

The squad list is therefore largely unsurprising. Indeed, in the media release that accompanied the squad announcement, Milicic stressed the importance of consistency. “The great amount of consistency within our squad from November’s series against Chile in Sydney and Adelaide means that we will be able to continue to make progress with many areas of our play … as we build up to these crucial qualifiers,” he said.

But one wonders whether consistency – or incumbency – ought to outweigh form, particularly when selected players have been under-performing or out of action altogether in the past six months.

Elise Kellond-Knight’s return to Brisbane Roar, for example, has been hampered by a serious hamstring injury that has kept her sidelined for almost half this W-League season, making just two appearances off the bench so far. That injury also affected her time with Reign FC and Washington Spirit in the NWSL, with the midfielder totalling just 942 minutes of competitive club football across all of 2019.

The newly-recalled Kyah Simon has likewise struggled for game-time in the W-League and NWSL, having played just 762 minutes in 2019 after repeated injuries. Compare this with Emily Gielnik, who surpassed 1,000 minutes in her four-month W-League season with Melbourne Victory before joining Bayern Munich in August, or Kerr, who totalled over 2,000 minutes with the Chicago Red Stars alone.

But there are like-for-like alternatives who are in arguably much better form. Besides the recalled Aivi Luik, who impressed when filling in for Kellond-Knight during the Chile friendlies, Western Sydney Wanderers midfielder Ella Mastrantonio has played every minute of her club’s unprecedented league run and has arguably been the stand-out defensive midfielder in the competition. She also played regularly for Cockburn City’s Under-18 men’s NPL side in the W-League off-season.

Elsewhere, Sydney FC’s Chloe Logarzo – who orchestrated the Matildas’ sensational comeback against Brazil at the World Cup – has also had a recent dip in form, yet is recalled ahead of Amy Harrison and Kyra Cooney-Cross; two players who have flourished at Western Sydney off the back of consistent game-time in the NWSL and Future Matildas programs respectively, and whose recent friendly against China on the Gold Coast (Harrison scored the winner) makes them all the more familiar with one of Australia’s upcoming opponents.

In goal, young UCLA graduate Teagan Micah is preferred ahead of arguably the most in-form W-League goalkeeper in Casey Dumont, who herself has several years of experience at both club and national level, while McCormick is preferred ahead of Melbourne City’s Emma Checker despite the latter being part of the W-League’s equal-best defensive unit so far this season. Milicic did note, however, that these players are on a long-list of possible replacements should first-choice players withdraw.

This squad is particularly puzzling in light of Milicic’s comments that he and his staff “have been keeping a very close eye on the W-League”. The line between a close eye and tunnel-vision, it seems, can become blurred. While consistency is the foundation of February’s qualification squad, it comes at the expense of a consistency of messaging regarding playing time and league form. Only time will tell whether this is the right move or if it isn’t simply consistency for consistency’s sake.



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