- Matildas will look for revenge against Brazil
- Were soundly beaten 3-1 in Brisbane on Thursday
- Nations clash again on Sunday night on Gold Coast
The Matildas are prepared to ‘fight fire with fire’ to nullify the Brazilian bash-up style when the nations clash again in an international friendly on the Gold Coast on Sunday.
That is the word from interim coach Tom Sermanni, while also insisting that Australia must play their own game and take their opportunities better than they did in their 3-1 loss at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night.
Brazil committed 17 fouls, had a player sent off and played a physical brand of football that pushed boundaries across 90 minutes.
The Matildas did not back down, but must be ready for a similar approach from the South American powerhouses.
‘I think you have to fight fire with fire. The challenge is that Brazil have adopted a very different style of football to what we expect Brazil to play and a different style to what most of the top teams play,’ Sermanni said.
‘The reality is that you need to be able to match that and to adjust to play effectively against that.
‘You have got to balance that out by looking at where the opportunities are to hurt them. A lot of that is to play a similar kind of game to them when we get the ball forward early and get one-on-one match-ups with their defenders.’
Brazil took their chances better than the Matildas in Brisbane. They had two clear scoring opportunities inside the opening 13 minutes and went up 2-0.
Coach Tom Sermanni said the Matildas are prepared to ‘fight fire with fire’ to nullify the Brazilian bash-up style when the nations clash again in an international friendly on the Gold Coast
The visitors were aggressive from the outset in Brisbane, and it paid off in a 3-1 win
In contrast, only Caitlin Foord was able to make it count for the hosts with a well taken goal.
‘It’s critical that we do better with their early forward runs and early passing. That’s something you can show the players on video, but until you experience that it takes a bit of time to adjust,’ Sermanni added.
‘Hopefully having played against it the players will be a bit more familiar.
‘Definitely you look back at the (first) game and there were a number of close opportunities that we had to get behind them, move them around, and we were either just off with the pass or they fouled us.
‘Hopefully we can look to do that part of the game a little bit better.’
Sermanni grinned when asked whether he hoped the officials took a different approach in the second fixture.
‘That would be nice,’ he said.
‘I think it is fair to say that I felt the referees were either intimidated or bullied the other night.
‘If they had taken control early I think it would have been a very different game and potentially a different outcome.
‘I felt our forwards got no protection and it actually reminded me of a football game from the 1980s. There was little protection in those days. Hopefully it won’t happen on Sunday night.’
Sermanni said there were ‘a few bruised bodies’ but no injury concerns when the team trained on Saturday morning.
He also said there was ‘certainly a very good chance’ that he would hand at least one Matildas squad member a debut on Sunday.
