sport news Shocking stats show how much work Matildas have to do before World Cup as ... trends now
View
comments
For 45 minutes against Canada on Tuesday the Matildas gave an insight into why Football Australia have stuck by head coach Tony Gustavsson in the build-up to next year's World Cup.
They led 1-0 at the break courtesy of a Mary Fowler goal against the Olympic gold medallists at Sydney's Allianz Stadium.
But by full-time they had fallen to a 2-1 loss in predictable fashion.
Adriana Leon of Canada and Charlotte Grant of Australia compete for the ball during the friendly match. Canada came back in the second half to beat the Matildas
Adriana Leon (pictured) scoring her second past the Aussies. The Matildas have endured repeated losses and patchy performances - keeping just two clean sheets since the Olympics
The defeat means that less than a year out from the World Cup on home soil, Gustavsson, who was at the wheel for the calamitous Asian Cup quarter-final exit earlier this year, has just one win against any of the world's top 20 sides.
'I think you can see from the 45 minutes that we saw some improvement in that we can dominate a top team and not just compete with them,' he said.
'To also be able to do that with six players out - maybe if we had played Canada a year and a half ago we wouldn't have been able to dominate them.
'I
