Matildas might have missed their window of opportunity
The streets will not forget these Matildas. They changed Australia, the way we see ourselves and the way the world sees us. They have inspired hundreds, thousands, millions, and in many different ways. They captured hearts and minds and created memories and moments that will last a lifetime, perhaps longer.
You could make an argument that these things are more important than trophies, and in a way, if you really think hard about it, you might have a bit of a point. But you also know it doesn’t work that way, and that’s exactly why it hurts so much.
It is the end of an era: probably tomorrow begins the slow dismantling of this golden generation, the greatest collection of individual footballers, male or female, that this country has ever assembled.
We’ll have to remember them as one of the best teams to never win anything.
This Women’s Asian Cup was supposed to smooth out this wrinkle in the universe. That was pretty much the whole point of having him here. happened wrong Kerr, Foord, Catley and the others had no legacy-defining piece of silverware to call their own. They wanted it bad and we wanted it bad for them, so we organized to make it happen and were emotionally invested in desperately hoping it would happen.
But the 16-year drought continues… and continues. And so on. It can continue for a long time. This is not to discount their future chances or to say that it is impossible for them to win next year’s World Cup in Brazil, because it is technically possible.
This is just looking at the ugly face of reality.
Some players go their entire careers without playing an international tournament on home soil. This group, the best we had, they had to do it twice in three years and gave everything they had, but it wasn’t enough.
If not these players, if not now, when? to be really?
The reason this opportunity is so valuable is because we know the window is closing. Australia’s first-mover advantage in the women’s game has all but disappeared; Traditional football countries have stepped up and are capable of getting faster and better. This is happening.
With each World Cup cycle, the optimism with which we can talk about our chances decreases. Unless something changes at home, the Matildas will return to somewhere in the global standings close to where the Socceroos sit in the men’s game. This is our natural position.
An added complication is that the Matildas will now have to go through a delayed regeneration period. 12 years later, eight players from Australia were still in the squad from the teams that participated in the 2014 Asian Cup final between these two countries. For Japan? None. They have since surrendered their entire national team and disappeared; To win any Asian Cup in the future we will probably have to lose. NadeshikoAnd that’s hard to understand right now.
Meanwhile, if the Matildas surrender their entire team, there’s no guarantee the next iteration will be better than the last. The consensus in the game seems to be that it is not the same for women, with a rich pipeline of male talent emerging to take the Socceroos to a new level over the next decade. Players of Sam Kerr’s caliber don’t just grow on trees and if one of them emerged today he’d probably end up playing AFLW.
So how to close the gap?
Perhaps it is instructive that on the morning of the final, Football Australia issued a press release pleading for government support. And it’s not like they didn’t ask politely: after Federal Sports Minister Anika Wells suggested football’s problem was a lack of “common purpose”, football’s various governing bodies finally organized and put forward a collective bid for funding. However, they did not get the answer they wanted.
The request was for $3 billion over 10 years, which was quite ambitious; but the vast majority of this money was for struggling grassroots facilities. More than half of that amount was to help address the lack of women-friendly locker rooms across the country. Participation of women and girls has increased after the 2023 Women’s World Cup and is not slowing down. But how can the Matildas hope to retain their place in the global pecking order unless this “critical issue”, as described by new FA chairman Martin Kugeler, is resolved?
Similarly, when will bean counters accept the role of A-League clubs as a development factory? Every Matildas player in the Asian Cup started their journey in our domestic competition, but the high-performance fund that now fuels Australia’s favorite national team comes from the club owners’ pockets. Should it be like this? Isn’t there a better way? If we want them to remain our favorites and continue to be competitive at the highest level, this has to change.
This also applies to many Australians jumping on the Matildas bandwagon; Some of them are experiencing real heartbreak in football for the first time.
Welcome. It sucks, right?
However, if you want to taste a taste that is not bittersweet, there is a whole ecosystem you need to invest in, and it starts at your doorstep. Buy a ticket to an A-League match and support the players you will one day be cheering on in green and gold jerseys. Be the change you want to see in the world. Maybe then one day we can experience a different feeling.
