Final thoughts
That was a tough match to summarise. From the Matildas perspective, it wasn’t terrible. It also wasn’t great. There were some good moments, though execution was lacking at almost every turn, with only one of their 11 shots on target. Gustavsson’s second-half substitutions were copious and made a difference, and it’ll be interesting to see which line-up he goes with for the team’s opening Olympics match against New Zealand on 21 July. But the takeaway lesson is that some decent play won’t cut it if results do not follow. The upcoming campaign could yet be a rollercoaster!
I have also ridden the rollercoaster tonight. Of Japanese commentary when I don’t speak Japanese. Of no commentary at all. Of sweet relief when Australia’s team managed to get through the technology gremlins and onto the live feed. And an intermittently disappearing time stamp to cap it all off. Who says live blogs aren’t fun?
Nonetheless, it’s always enjoyable to watch our national team play and it was again true tonight. We’ll be covering the Matildas throughout their Tokyo 2021 campaign which kicks off next week, so stay tuned. Until then, goodnight.
Full-time! Japan 1-0 Australia
90+ 3 This is probably the last chance. Carpenter releases a whistling right-footer that might have ended beautifully if somebody was there to utilise it. A few last-gasp floods in possession for both sides and that’s that.
89 mins A through ball has Japan in again, straight through guts of Australia’s defence! And wow, Endo is almost on the ball looking for blood but Williams has rushed off her line right to the top of the box and stops her in her tracks, in the process earning a yellow card and ceding a free kick. Momiki is on the dead ball, sending her effort on target but it deflects off the wall and out.
86 mins Japan’s back line pass the ball around midfield this way and that at that. A cute reverse pass from Tanaka almost has them in for the second goal they’ve been chasing. That was dangerous areas for the Matildas. Nakajima takes a corner that is ultimately fruitless.
82 mins Tense moments as Australia get numbers back and Japan get them forward. Japan are technically very sound, and it’s this type of opposition with whom the Matildas historically have issues. Openings are gone before there’s a chance to look up for a pass. Carpenter has the ball by the right byline and it pops into the air and falls right into Logarzo’s lap before pinging out of play ... until Carpenter keeps it in. She has done a heap of running.
78 mins Kennedy takes a swipe from the right flank. I’m not sure if that was a cross or a shot, but it’s not far off the mark! The Matildas are putting together some positive passages of play in this second 45 though time is ticking and a goal would add some confidence going into the Games.
74 mins Cooney-Cross looks up and readies to make her run, is forced back. And a rapid Japan counter-attack almost ends in a second goal. Kennedy was a bit exposed there.
71 mins Japan go to the bench again, bringing Nanami Kitamura on for Asato Miyagawa. And Gielnik almost has a run until the flag goes up.
68 mins The Matildas have a free kick, and Cooney-Cross sends it to the top of the area, though she may have meant for that to go a little further.
64 mins (the clock is back) Japan have more joy, with a nice attacking phase. They try their luck outside the left of the area, right where they won their penalty, but the subsequent shot doesn’t trouble Williams. Japan coach Asako Takakura makes a raft of changes, bringing on Nicole Momiki for Yuzuho Shiokoshi, Hina Sugita for Yui Hasegawa, Mina Tanaka for Yuika Sugasawa and Jun Endo for Mana Iwabuchi.
What a save! A Japan throw-in offers Endo an opportunity. She takes a whooping, whirling shot from the top of the box and Williams leaps high for literally a top-drawer save, parrying the ball away.
64 mins (I think) The scoreline and clock have been absent this half. But hey, we have both commentary and natural noise so swings and roundabouts. Japan are under some pressure here, both on the field and off. As host nation of these Olympics, they are expected to do well. Right now they are struggling to get out of their third.
60 mins Cooney-Cross embarks on a solo run, dribbling around three Japanese players who trail her as she continues to weave towards Australia’s attacking third. She threads a through ball to Carpenter, who crosses but Raso can’t convert.
57 mins That seems to have galvanised the Matildas, who set off in search of an equaliser. It’s Fowler who is up and about, the 18-year-old releasing a pile-driver that’s high but promising. Van Egmond takes a speculative shot from distance, and I wouldn’t put it past her to score from there because she has before. This time it’s over the crossbar.
Goal! Japan 1-0 Australia
53 mins Penalty! Kennedy gets into the path of a Hasegawa cross but a penalty is almost immediately called after an adjudged handball. The Tottenham centre-back hasn’t had a happy start to her shift. Mana Iwabuchi steps up to the spot, and Williams guess right but her dive to her right cannot stop the clinical finish deep into the corner.
Second half! Japan 0-0 Australia
48 mins We have our answer! The manager rings the changes by introducing Lydia Williams between the posts as Micah takes her leave. Also in the fray is Kennedy, Aivi Luik, Logarzo, Fowler, Emily Gielnik. This is very much experimentation. Can these substitutes inject some life? Off are Kerr, Foord, Simon, Yallop and Catley. And it’s straight for the jugular, with high pressing and Carpenter fashioning a fabulous chance.
Be interesting to see what approach Gustavsson takes in the second half. Does he bring on Logarzo? Give Mary Fowler some time?
Half-time! Japan 0-0 Australia
Well, that wasn’t the most exciting 45 minutes I’ve witnessed. There’s something to be said for Carpenter and Catley not having the freedom to get forward. They’re sort of caged into this defensive set-up even though traditionally both are so often the source of chances. What are your thoughts?
45 mins Cooney-Cross slides to retain possession but Yallop’s touch is a little off and Japan have a throw-in. Kerr drops deep into midfield to orchestrate an attack but again the final ball is missing. This match has nil-nil written all over it.
43 mins Half-time is looming now and still not a goal in sight. Yallop is in a one-two with Kerr and then makes her run down the left flank, forcing Yamashita into action. That was better from Australia.
40 mins The Matildas attack is still a little disjointed. Passages are breaking down before the point of execution and Kerr is struggling to get into the game. Well then, Kerr has just whipped in a very nice cross. Foord’s head is at the ready but the Japan defence are quick to the task.
37 mins Raso is almost caught out but manages to track back in the nick of time. Still, Yuika Sugasawa is causing problems and a would-be goal is rather spectacularly parried away by a leaping Micah. No sooner than I am about to type that Micah has been superb at international level so far than she’s made a brave run off her line to thwart Sugasawa again.
33 mins Carpenter is characteristically settled defensively. But it will be interesting to see if Gustavsson is serious about bedding in this back-three formation.
30 mins Another audacious shot from Simon is deflected. Every time the Matildas get a little time to reset the Japanese attack comes again. Yuzuho Shiokoshi takes a shot from the top of the box that Carpenter gets a high boot to only for Micah to save a follow-up shot. Another chance forces the W-League goalkeeper of the year in to action again.
26 mins Commentary update! The dulcet tones of Michael Zappone and Grace Gill finally ring out on YouTube, after some technical difficulties. And Raso is on the run again down the right.
23 mins A lovely ball in has Hasegawa in a duel with Carpenter, and the latter eventually forces Japan to recycle and try again. No dice. Foord is all over it and Risa Shimizu tracks back into the hosts’ third.
21 mins In terms of Steph Catley, she’s had a lot of time off with that serious hamstring injury, and didn’t get much time on the field for the Gunners in the last Women’s Super League season. But she is key to this side. It tends not to run the same with her and Ellie Carpenter.
Kyah Simon takes a speculative shot from distance and now Raso has a throw-in. Van Egmond finds Catley, and a clever header from Kerr is all Foord needs to draw a routine save from Yamashita. But Japan are on the run now and have pick-pocketed possession. An aesthetically pleasing one-touch passage appears promising but fizzles. Bit cagey this.
18 mins “Hi Emma,” writes Wade. “It sounds almost like the commentary is live in the stadium, but that can’t be the case can it? Or can it?! Would be wildly distracting for the players surely.
And as an Arsenal fan it’s great to see Steph Catley back fit and playing. Hopefully she can stay fit this season.”
So to answer the first question, yes, commentators are more often than not at the stadium. Sometimes in a commentary box, sometimes outside in the press tribunes with natural noise in the background. This is particularly echoey though, isn’t it.
Emily van Egmond is in possession and she finds joy through the middle with Foord waiting in the area, but the Arsenal forward can’t skirt around Kumagai.
14 mins Caitlin Foord attempts a through ball, but Kerr is caught offside, and Miyagawa wins a free kick in the attacking half. Phew, Micah is called into action again. And again, as Japanese flood the box, their blushes perhaps saved after the ball is diverted out of play.
10 mins It’s a game of ping pong out there at the moment. High balls. Long balls. Errant passes. A couple of nervous defensive moments for the Matildas are sorted out and Hayley Raso is making headway on the right flank. She is quick, is Raso.
6 mins Japan are sitting tight in these early exchanges. Australia attempt a bit of route-one football that sails well wide of the post. Ayaka Yamashita didn’t even need to come off her line. It is the home side who make headway, finding a way through Australia’s line and Yuzuho Shiokoshi has time for a ball into the box but has no support.
Peep! We're away!
3 mins And the commentary is in Japanese! Oh this is fun! The Matildas are passing the ball around at the back. Catley to Micah to Polkinghorne. Japan have a throw-in and it’s back with Australia. Japan are rocking a retro kit for the ages. Superb.
“I am still heartbroken about the way Japan exited from the 2019 World Cup,” Phil Uribe writes in. “Good luck to them!
For those who missed it, they were knocked out by the Netherlands in the last 16 after a controversial 90th-minute penalty.
It’s happening folks. The stream is live and the players are in the tunnel.
Interesting the Matildas players on the bench tonight. Alanna Kennedy, Elise Kellond-Knight, Chloe Logarzo. All usual starters and who could probably do with some minutes. First-choice goalkeeper Lydia Williams again sits out this one. Gustavsson may still be experimenting, though one might reasonably assume he would be close to settling on his XI for each of those Olympics group games.
The anthems are playing, with both benches singing through their marks. Likewise, there is a sparse crowd in the stands at Sanga Stadium.
So this week Gustavsson spoke of his attempts to get the most out of Kerr, admitting it has been one of the early challenges of his tenure.
“It was my first camp getting to know the players, tough oppositions obviously, but I don’t think we managed to activate her the way we want to,” he said on SEN this week. “We looked into that deeply during the April and June camps, looked at everything from principles of play to formations to get players around her. I think we need to be aware though that whoever we play is going to do everything in their power to make sure Sam doesn’t get on the ball.
“So it’s going to be difficult no matter what we do but I also know we’re much further ahead now than when we were in April in terms of how we can activate her and we’ve seen some improvement in that already.”
Anybody else waiting for the live stream to start? I was waiting with bated breath at 8pm on the dot but it appears the clock is ticking down to get under way right on the whistle. Good times. I’ll attempt to entertain you.
Matildas line-up
Teagan Micah is back in goal and Kyra Cooney-Cross starting in midfield. No Alanna Kennedy in defence.
STARTING XI
— Matildas (@TheMatildas) July 14, 2021
Here’s how we line up in #JPNvAUS#GoAustralia #TokyoTogether pic.twitter.com/JsH2AtPEC7
And Japan.
#なでしこジャパン🇯🇵
— JFAなでしこサッカー【🇯🇵】vs🇦🇺7.14@サンガS (@jfa_nadeshiko) July 14, 2021
LINE-UP📝
𝐆𝐊#山下杏也加
𝐃𝐅#清水梨紗#熊谷紗希(C)#南萌華#宮川麻都
𝐌𝐅#中島依美#三浦成美#塩越柚歩#長谷川唯
𝐅𝐖#菅澤優衣香#岩渕真奈
⌚️19:20KO
📺#TBS 系列にて全国生中継
📱TVerにてライブ配信
🔗https://t.co/rGbEQMV4uM#jfa #daihyo #nadeshiko pic.twitter.com/JaFG3ftSiV
Preamble
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the Matilda’s final Olympics warm-up match. This is the friendly to end all friendlies, at least in terms of making a statement before opening their Tokyo campaign. The (friendly) results thus far on Tony Gustavsson’s watch are as follows:
Germany 5-2 Australia
Netherlands 5-0 Australia
Denmark 3-2 Australia
Sweden 0-0 Australia
There have been improvements on those humiliations by Germany and the Netherlands, who are ranked second and fourth in the world respectively, and the defensive issues during those games went some way to being remedied against world No 5 Sweden who, incidentally, is in Australia’s group in Tokyo along with the US and New Zealand.
But there remains a lack of spark up front, and this tie with the Olympics host nation is the only remaining opportunity to build front-third cohesion in a match setting. Striker and captain Sam Kerr is on every opponents’ hit list and she was largely marked out of the game against Sweden. Engineering a route through stubborn defences will go a long way to making the knockout stages once in Tokyo. On paper, at least, there isn’t much in this. The Matildas are ranked ninth, Japan 10th. The two countries have met 28 times since 1984, with Australia winning eight and Japan 11, along with nine draws.
Let’s get started. As ever, any thoughts or contributions feel free to email or tweet as per details above.
