The Matildas faced a heavy defeat to Germany last night in their first game of the tournament.
With Spain and Canada securing victories earlier in the day, Australia and Germany went head-to-head in their first match of the Paris Olympics.
In their last meeting, women’s football powerhouse, Germany, won a decisive victory over the Matildas in a shocking 5-2 thrashing.
Horst Hrubesch, manager of the DFB Frauen will be hoping to recreate their run from the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where they won gold, while Matildas manager Tony Gustavsson will be making a bid for their first ever Olympic medal.
Team news
Prior to kick-off in Marseille, it was confirmed that Matildas squad rookie, Sharn Freier would be replacing Tameka Yallop under the Late Athlete Replacement Policy.
For Germany, the full squad was available, with Janina Minge replacing key midfielder Lena Oberdorf who is out after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
First half
After an uneventful first 15 minutes, Germany’s captain, Alexandra Popp, had an early shot blocked by fellow skipper, Steph Catley.
Shortly after, Caitlin Foord received the first booking of the game for a heavy tackle on Kathrin Hendrich.
Germany took the lead 24 minutes in, when Jule Brand won her side a corner against Clare Hunt.
Giulia Gwinn sent the ball into the box, finding the head of Marina Hegering at the back post who knocked the ball past Mackenzie Arnold, making it 1-0.
The Matilda’s looked to restart the game quickly, but a series of shots from Catley, Foord and Mary Fowler were blocked, preventing them from finding a foothold in the game.
In hopes of furthering their lead, Popp and Sjoeke Nüsken make attempts on goal for Germany but they were unlucky in their efforts.
The second yellow card of the game was shown to Minge for fouling Hayley Raso who was back on the attack for the Matildas.
Second half
The start of the second half saw Germany make the first substitution of the game, as Sydney Lohmann replaced Nüsken.
Tony Gustavsson made all five possible changes to his team throughout the match but to no avail.
While these substitutions brought some energy back to the side, they failed to produce the quality that was needed against such a strong team.
The German team found their second goal in the 64th minute, in a corner conceded by Kyra Cooney-Cross.
Once again, Gwinn took it and this time it was Lea Schüller who slipped away from Alanna Kennedy to header the ball down into the bottom left corner.
Brand’s consistency and overall quality throughout the match finally reaped rewards as just four minutes later, her ball met the back of the net, making it 3-0.
As she made the run, Sarai Linder crossed the ball, before Brand made the contact that sent the ball into the bottom right corner, pushing Australia’s hopes of getting back in the game just out of reach.
This was solidified even further when Klara Bühl won a free kick against Ellie Carpenter and sent the ball towards the back of the net once again.
The goal was ruled offside, but the writing was on the wall for Australia.
In the four minutes of added time, the Matildas were in full attacking mode, quickly gaining themselves two corners but their efforts failed to come to fruition.
Full time
Germany were the better side throughout, with the Matildas struggling to find their feet in a game so heavily dominated by the European heavyweights.
Germany now sit at the top of group B, drawing with the US, following their victory over Zambia.
Australia are now third, and in order to keep their Olympic dreams alive they will be looking for victory in their next match against Zambia on 28 July.
Matildas captain, Catley told Channel 9: “”It’s definitely a wake-up call, that’s tournament football.
“We’ve got two more games and we’ve got to turn it around quickly. We’ve got a lot to learn from here.
“I think at times we were on top and we let two set-pieces affect the game in a very negative way.”
It is clear Australia have some homework to do on defending set pieces ahead of their upcoming games.
Featured image courtesy of Steffen Prößdorf via Wikimedia Commons. No changes were made to this image. License details found here.
