Robbie Slater, a former professional soccer player for Australia, took aim at the Football Federation of Australia and the Matildas following the team’s disastrous start to the Olympic Games in Paris, where it was defeated by Germany.
According to the Matildas’ coach, they were not ready for the match against Germany.
Steph Catley, the team’s captain, said the loss to Germany had been a wake-up call, and the team needed to improve in its next two games.
The team has two more games to improve its performance. According to Clare Wheeler, the team had been playing well at times, but it allowed two set-pieces to affect the game negatively.
She said that the team’s mantra was “never say die.”
Despite the loss to Germany, the team is not giving up. It still has two more games to improve its performance and reach the knockout stage of the Olympics.
It will face a tough challenge against the USA and Zambia.
Following the team’s humiliating loss to Germany in Paris, Slater criticized the Matildas’ preparation for the upcoming Olympic tournament.
He also wondered why the team didn’t play a warm-up match before the event against New Zealand.
Before traveling to Europe, the Matildas faced China and Canada in Australia.
The loss to Canada was the Matildas’ final test before facing Germany.
According to Slater, the defeat to Germany showed that the team was not at its best when it came to preparing for the Olympics.
He also believed that the team’s coach, Pia Gustavsson, was not able to prepare the players properly for the match against Germany due to the time that they had spent in Spain.
For an article published by News Corp, Socceroos great Robbie Slater stated that the team’s loss to Germany showed that the players needed at least one more match before the Olympics started.
He questioned the team’s lack of preparation and why it didn’t play a match against New Zealand, as scheduled.