Big changes for Matildas in US rematch

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson said there were plenty of positives to come out of Saturday’s loss to the USA – but has called for more effort in attack from his players.

“You can’t be blinded by the 3-0 loss and not see the good things, but you also can’t be naive and think it’s better than it was,” he said.

Gustavsson said the team created three “100 per cent chances” but still wanted more attacking committment going forward in the second fixture tonight in Newcastle.

“We can create even more, if we have more runs and more committment.”

The fast-starting Americans were on the front foot from the first minute on Saturday afternoon, thanks to a goal after just a few seconds – Gustavsson said there won’t be a repeat.

“It’s really important you’re on from the first second, especially when you play the best teams in the world,” he said in Monday night’s pre-match press conference.

“The US have, I know from the past, this mindset that they want to open fast and go for an early goal to set the tone in the game.”

The coach said the workshopping after the game had been very positive.

“There was a lot of good dialogue, a lot of good takeaways. Then it took some time to compress that into a game plan for tomorrow,” he said.