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(Canada Soccer by Daniel Porcelli)
Match Analysis: Australia 1-2 CanWNT
2022-09-06
by
Benedict Rhodes, CanPL.ca Contributor (@BTFR17)
News

Final Score: Australia 1-2 Canada
Goalscorers: Fowler 3′; Leon 48′, 64′
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Match Recap

Canada are leaving Australia with a perfect two wins from two, thanks to a strong second-half performance on Tuesday and another two goals from Adriana Leon.

The hosts wasted no time at the brand new Sydney Football Stadium, as youngster Mary Fowler fired Australia into the lead just three minutes in. The Matildas charged forward after winning the ball back from a long pass up the pitch by Kailen Sheridan, and after a couple of progressive passes, Sam Kerr drove the ball along the ground across the box. It was met by Fowler, whose low shot was hit with pace and unsavable for Sheridan.

Young Canadian defender Jade Rose made a crucial stop with a few seconds left in the first half, chasing down Kerr before lunging in to poke the ball out from underneath the Australian superstar. Had Rose not intervened, Kerr — the record goalscorer for the Matildas — would have been one-on-one with Sheridan with a chance to double the score before the break.

Canada looked slow and disjointed in the first half, unable to move the ball fast enough to really challenge an Australian side that was pressing them intensely to shut down every attack, but Canada would tie things up a few minutes after the interval.

After bursting through the middle of the pitch, Leon played the ball out wide to Christine Sinclair before getting into the box. After Sinclair’s first cross was blocked, her follow-up effort made it to the feet of Leon, who was able to redirect it past Lydia Williams to tie things up at 1-1.

Nichelle Prince put the ball in the back of the net a few minutes later, placing it into the bottom left corner after a perfect pass through to her from Rose, but Prince was marginally offside and the goal was waved off.

Rose would get her assist in the 64th minute with the play of the game. After picking the ball up facing her own goal and calmly turning with it to run between a pair of Australian attacker, Rose charged through the midfield. Her momentum carried her forward before she played a perfect pass along the ground to Leon, who put the ball into the back of the net with a brilliant finish for her third goal down under, giving Canada the lead.

The two goals in quick succession seemed to deflate the Aussies, who after dominating the first half never really got things going for the most part after the break.

A pair of mistakes out of the back from Kailen Sheridan nearly led to a late equalizer, but her backline was able to hold down the fort in the final minutes. Quinn made a huge block with the 90th minute looming, and got injured doing so and had to leave the pitch after only coming on moments earlier. They were dealing with an injury already in camp, and looked to be in a lot of pain when first going to ground, and subsequently being slow to get back up.

Gabrielle Carle went down a couple of times with a knock as well, but Canada was able to battle through the six minutes of stoppage time without conceding, and Les Rouges held on for their second victory in a row.

Three Observations

Australians get off to the perfect start in first half, Canada does the same after the break

Wanting a reaction after Saturday’s defeat in Brisbane, Tony Gustavsson’s side looked to come out firing in this match. A goal less than three minutes into the match is about as good a start as any coach can ask for, and that’s exactly what Mary Fowler provided. The smoke from the pre-match fireworks still hadn’t lifted, and the new Manchester City recruit Fowler fired it past Kailen Sheridan for an early one-goal advantage.

The play began with an error on a kick down the pitch from Sheridan. It was picked off by the Aussies, and they quickly raced up the pitch to put immediate pressure on the scrambling Canadian defence. Sam Kerr got the ball inside the penalty area and played it laterally along the ground, where Fowler was able to hit it first time.

Throughout the first half, they were able to get a few more shots away, including two others on target, but couldn’t build on their hot start. They would come to regret that, as Canada gave them a taste of their own medicine to begin the second half.

Adriana Leon started and finished a play less than three minutes into the second half, tying the game at one goal apiece.

Picking up the ball in midfield, she took a few steps forward before playing it to the left for Christine Sinclair, whose initial cross was blocked. Her second effort was much better, finding Leon in front of goal, where she got a touch to it to poke it past Lydia Williams and into the back of the net.

After a frustrating first half, a quick goal to even things up was exactly what Bev Priestman’s team needed, and it allowed them to take a breath and ease the tension that comes with being a goal down a little bit. Leon would also go on to score the winner about 15 minutes later, her second of the match and third of this two-game series down under, after scoring the lone goal on Saturday as well.

Her 26th and 27th goals for Canada, Leon is now tied with Melissa Tancredi for sixth all-time in Canadian women’s national team history.

Canada struggle to move the ball quickly enough, protect the ball in the first half

In the first half of Tuesday’s contest, Canada was dominated by the Aussies.

After Mary Fowler’s goal gave them the early lead at home, some of the pressure was lifted and piled onto the visiting Canadians. The Matildas had scored by taking advantage of a mistake from Kailen Sheridan and a well-executed counter-attack, and Canada were forced to open up a bit to try and find an equalizer.

Australia refused to give them a yard, quickly shutting down every Canadian player who received the ball.

In situations like that it’s important to keep the ball moving — receive the ball, take a touch if necessary, and release it again to the next player — but Canada were perhaps trying to do a bit too much with it. Players were taking as many as five or six touches, and if having one Matilda hunting you down wasn’t enough, those few seconds were often enough for a second defender to come in and apply the pressure as well.

This was the defensive strategy for the entirety of the first half from Tony Gustavsson’s squad, and it was extremely effective. Canada were rarely able to string more than a couple of passes together, and Australia had a few other scoring chances from counter-attacks, but weren’t able to take advantage of any of them. Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord were among the players who had chances amount to nothing, and will be kicking themselves for not putting the match to bed in the first half.

Halftime halted their momentum, and Canada were much better after the break. The substitutions at the half to bring Janine Beckie and Julia Grosso on for the much more defensive duo of Marie Levasseur and Desiree Scott would turn out to be the right one, and Canada would go on to score twice and win the game 2-1.

“At halftime for me, it was just demanding more from the group,” said Bev Priestman after the match, saying that they can’t use things like travel and quick turnarounds as an excuse for their poor opening half. “We talked about the performances across two games, and keeping our standards high and not standing still.

“I got what I expected from Australia in that first half… Australia really put us to work. The motto for the camp is ‘what’s hard for us is good for us’, and we’ve been tested again and again.”

Jade Rose takes full advantage of opportunity to start, shuts down Sam Kerr

Canada’s backline was shaken up for this camp in Australia, as they were without a bunch of regulars, including the likely picks for the entire first-choice backline — Ashley Lawrence, Vanessa Gilles, Kadeisha Buchanan and Jayde Riviere.

While that was disappointing in some ways, as it would have been interesting to see what a full-strength group would have looked like with Bev Priestman’s new-look 4-2-3-1 formation, it also gave some great opportunities to other players looking to make a strong impression. Right back Bianca St-Georges is one example, she’s been on the fringes of the national team for a few years now looking for a way in, but was able to get two starts this week, and looked very sharp in both.

The biggest takeaway, however, may be that teenage centre-back Jade Rose appears to be ready to be a more regular contributor to Priestman’s senior national team setup. Rose, 19, has been a standout at the youth level for Canada, winning the Canada Soccer Youth Player of the Year in 2020 and 2021 (and finishing as a runner-up in 2019) but her opportunities to step up into the senior side have been limited due to the strong group ahead of her in the depth chart.

She started Tuesday’s match for just her third senior international cap, and needing to defend arguably the best player in the sport Sam Kerr is no small task, but Rose stepped up to the challenge and denied the Chelsea star on a few occasions. Most notably, a few moments before the first half ended, Kerr looked to be through on goal behind the Canadian backline, but Rose was able to track her down and get a foot in to clear the ball away from danger.

It was a very mature performance from Rose, and one that she will be hoping to build on going forward in order to try and book a ticket back to Australia (and New Zealand) for the World Cup next summer. She’s physically commanding, quick, and reads the game well, allowing her to think a few steps ahead.

Even if she doesn’t end up at the World Cup in 2023, she’s been highly-regarded for a long time, and should be a major contributor in the future.

 

Canada’s second goal was a good example of how she reads the game well, and uses her tools as a player to her advantage. Facing her own net, she had a cool head to turn on a dime and charge into midfield with the ball at her feet.

From there, she played a pass through to Adriana Leon, who scored to give Canada the 2-1 lead that they would hold onto for the remaining half-hour.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Adriana Leon, Canada

Leon was arguably Canada’s best player over the two matches in Australia, scoring all three of their goals, including a second half brace in Sydney in this match.

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