Interim Head Coach Tom Sermanni said that the mood in camp had been “upbeat and very positive” in the CommBank Matildas' first activity since a disappointing Olympic Games.
He was speaking to media in the lead up to the team’s first game of the window against Switzerland on Saturday morning (AEDT).
“The team was a bit beaten up after the outcome of the Olympics, there’s no point in denying that,” he said.
“This team has got high expectations. Athletes are resilient. To play at the top level you have the be resilient. You have to come back and bounce back after bad results and bad tournaments.
“A couple of days in the training field, everyone back together again, the mood from my perspective has been upbeat and very positive.”
“I think there are two things I’m looking towards in this camp. One is for the team to put in a really good, solid, positive performance to bring back that confidence in the team,”
“But at the same time, it’s really important to get results. So if someone gave me the choice now, ‘do you want the good performance or the result?’ right at this time I’d say the result.
He is heading into the game with a squad that is, for the most part, ready and raring to go.
“Everyone’s looking pretty good,” he summarised.
“Like anything, there’s a couple of bits and pieces of knocks, a couple of players coming back from injury that we need to be a little bit more careful of, in the sense of playing two games in four days.
“So there’s always a few bits and pieces but generally the squad that’s in here at the moment has everybody, apart from maybe one or two players, training completely and fully.”
He joked that he wasn’t going to fall for revealing his entire starting team in the press conference, but gave some hints about what the factors would be in selection.
“What we need to do as staff, as a group, is sit down and think what we think is the best starting team for both of these games,” he explained.
“The program isn’t about these two games. The important thing – and I’ve stressed this to the players – in some ways, this is the start of our preparation for the Asian Cup.
“What’s important is to get this team and this program back on track, and back in a really confident frame of mind.
“To do that, we need to work through the minefield of what the best way is to select teams right now, and at the same time, the best environment and the best times to start to introduce players to look ahead to the future.”
His intent is to introduce young players into the first-team environment, just as he has done in his previous stints with the CommBank Matildas, but he will ensure that it happens at the right time.
“You need to make sure that you’re bringing them into an environment that’s the right one for them,” he said.
“You don’t want to bring them into an environment where they’re potentially set up to fail. So it’s getting that balance right.
“Having come off the back of the Olympic campaign that didn’t go very well, the key thing is to try and get this team back on track and get their confidence back again.
“Then when you get your group into that frame of mind, it becomes much easier and better for younger players, and for the team to start introducing them.”
He said that he was expecting a tough game from World No.25 Switzerland.
“The team – and particularly our senior players – are desperate to get back into a winning mentality, so we have to go into these two games with that thought process as being the most important one,” he said.
“What I expect from Switzerland is that they’re playing at home, they have the Euros here next year, so it’s an important game for them, and it’s going to be a very, very difficult, tough game.”
He ended by touching on the emotions of catching up on many of the players who he gave debuts to over a decade ago.
“It’s great to catch up with the old players again, as opposed to where they were as young players,” he said.
“It’s just fantastic to see how they’ve developed first and foremost as really top professional players, really world class players, but also how they’ve developed as people.
“They’re still kind of the same people as teenagers - except a little bit more mature!”
COMMBANK MATILDAS | OCTOBER 2024 INTERNATIONALS
Switzerland v CommBank Matildas
Date: Friday, 25 October 2024 (local) / Saturday, 26 October (AEDT)
Kick-off: 8.00pm CET (local) / 5.00am (AEDT)
Venue: Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich
Broadcast: Paramount+
Tickets: Ticketmaster (Switzerland)
Germany v CommBank Matildas
Date: Monday, 28 October 2024 (local) / Tuesday, 29 October (AEDT)
Kick-off: 6.10pm CET (local) / 4.10am (AEDT)
Venue: Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena, Duisburg
Broadcast: Paramount+
Tickets: DFB Ticket Portal
