CommBank Matildas captain Steph Catley said that the team would learn their lessons from defeat against a tough Brazil team.
She was speaking to the media after falling 3-1 to Olympic silver medalists Brazil at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Thursday night.
“It’s a new system, so obviously there’s going to be difficulties at times,” she explained.
“They’re a tough team. They throw a lot of numbers forward, and that sometimes creates chaos. It left them very exposed at the back, and that’s what we talked about – we knew that would be the area for us to counter on them when they were throwing that many numbers forward.
“But defensively, in terms of pressing and dropping at the right time, we probably didn’t get that right in the first half. We spoke about it at half-time and corrected a lot of that.
“It’s a new formation, so sometimes it doesn’t look exactly how it’s supposed to at every point in the game, but we’re going through that process now, and we’ll get better every time we play.”
In assessing the game as a whole, the full-back said it was very physical.
“I think we expect that from Brazil, but it definitely was another level tonight,” she said.
“Maybe it wasn’t controlled early enough, and it then got a little bit reckless as the game opened up, and people got a bit more tired. So that was a little bit disappointing.
“A lot of the duels we had, I think we saw Caitlin [Foord] and [Hayley] Raso fighting up there and trying to keep the ball and trying to make chances from what we could and in games like that, you just have to ride the wave at points.
“We try to figure things out at times. We didn’t get it right, and it’ll be something we have to go back and look at. We try to match it and try to do our best in that area. But obviously, we didn’t do enough.”
Catley made no excuses for the result, explaining that while the stoppages throughout the game were frustrating, the game state allowed that to happen to Brazil’s advantage.
“That’s international football,” she said.
“There was a lot of extra time. I don’t know how much we played, but it felt like a long time, so I suppose it evened out in that sense.
“In terms of us, we gave up two early goals, and that allowed those tactics in.”
There are many memories for the CommBank Matildas in Brisbane and at Suncorp Stadium after their quarter-final win at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ at this venue.
Catley reflected on that moment, but conceded that football moves quickly.
“It has been nice,” she said.
“We’ve been back in the same hotel that we stayed at, and obviously playing here, they are some of the best memories of our lives, and as footballers, they were some of the biggest moments.
“But football does move quickly, and we’ve got an Asian Cup around the corner which is going to be at home, and hopefully we can create some more wonderful memories there.”
CommBank Matildas v Brazil
Date: Sunday, 1 December 2024
Kick-off: 6:35pm local / 7:35pm AEDT
Venue: Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
Broadcast: 10, 10 Bold, 10 Play and Paramount+
Tickets: matildas.com.au/tickets
CommBank Matildas v Chinese Taipei
Date: Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Kick-off: 8.00pm AEDT
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Broadcast: 10, 10 Bold, 10 Play and Paramount+
Tickets: matildas.com.au/tickets
CommBank Matildas v Chinese Taipei
Date: Saturday, 7 December 2024
Kick-off: 7.30pm AEDT
Venue: GMHBA Stadium, Geelong
Broadcast: 10, 10 Bold, 10 Play and Paramount+
Tickets: matildas.com.au/tickets
