- Aussies have been struggling since the Paris Olympics
- Crashed to a tepid draw against Switzerland
- Face a tough task against a strong German team
The Matildas know what Mary Fowler can do with the ball at her feet.
The challenge for interim coach Tom Sermanni is how to make that happen more often.
Switzerland successfully suppressed the 21-year-old’s influence in Saturday’s 1-1 draw, as Fowler often dropped into much deeper positions.
Sermanni is determined to gift Manchester City star Fowler – who is emerging as the future of the Matildas attack – in their next friendly against world number 4 Germany on Monday night. [Tuesday 4.10am AEDT].
“That’s one of the things we’re looking at is getting into a position where she’s going to hurt the opposition a little bit more, and obviously trying to get her into a position where she’s getting more possession,” Sermanni said. .
‘In fairness to Switzerland, it seemed like a deliberate plan to actually lock us in on our right, with Ellie [Carpenter] and with Mary and I think it made it difficult for her to get into the game.
“But with the kind of game it’s going to be against Germany, I think this is an opportunity for her to get more space, get more on the ball and hopefully create more for us.”
Mary Fowler struggled to impress Switzerland, which was a very worrying sign for the Matildas
Interim coach Tom Sermanni (pictured) has come under fire for playing Fowler out of position
While Fowler is excellent in tight spaces, Sermanni was asked if players might have been reluctant to give her the ball in those positions for fear of turning it over.
He believed it was a combination of that and that Fowler had to look like she was trying to get the ball.
“It’s a good point and should essentially be an easy one to solve in the sense that even players can talk to each other: ‘Just give me the ball and I can handle it,'” he said.
Sermanni was determined not to dwell on Germany’s 3–0 win over Australia in the opening match of the Olympic Games group stage, expecting the teams to be better evenly matched.
But after the Germans defeated England 4-3 at Wembley, he expects a much more open, more attacking match in Duisberg than the Swiss encounter.
The Matildas have struggled since their groundbreaking top four finish at the FIFA World Cup (pictured team beating France to reach the semi-finals of the tournament)
Fowler and the Matildas won’t have much time to resolve their issues with a quick turnaround before their match against powerhouse Germany
Sermanni stressed the importance of first defending strongly and then letting Australia’s offensive weapons shine.
It will be an emotional match for Germany, who send off retired superstar striker Alexandra Popp.
“It’s going to be a tough environment and interestingly enough, if you look at the Matildas, especially over the last few years, they’re probably just in an environment where the fans have been on their side,” Sermanni said.
“So it’s actually going to be a different kind of experience and these are the kinds of things we have to deal with.
‘One of the important things we need to discuss in the run-up to the game is how we manage to shut out that noise and not get caught up in the emotion of the game, get caught up in the emotion of the crowd, get caught up get into the emotion of the game. in the noise – and really just concentrate on football.”