CommBank Matildas Head Coach Tony Gustavsson and retiring goalkeeper Lydia Williams attended the official post-match press conference after Australia defeated China PR 2-0 in the second match of the ‘Til It’s Done Farewell Series.
Williams walked out through a guard of honour made of teammates, coaches and loved ones pre-match. She was presented with a Booka by tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley, a visual representation of her journey from Kalgoorlie to the international stage.
She was asked how she was feeling after an emotional final game on home soil.
“I’ll have to celebrate tonight with the girls and really spend the next little bit with them, and then really soak it all in, because it really is about the team,” Williams answered.
“It’s about how we performed tonight. It’s about leaving the camp in a really good atmosphere and getting our break leading into what’s going to be a pretty tough next little bit. I’m feeling good, but I’m not there yet.”
The goalkeeper said that she wasn’t aware of the pre-game celebrations – she only knew where to walk, not what was waiting on the other side.
“It was all pretty emotional,” she admitted. “To receive that gift from Evonne [Goolagong Cawley] was just incredible. That was probably the moment that tipped me over emotion-wise.
“That was a cap off to the kid that grew up in the desert, that fell in love with football.”
The 36-year-old has had a tremendous impact on the game, both on and off the field, and reflected on that impact post-match.
“A lot of sporting women in Australia just want to leave the game better than when they first arrived in it, and probably don’t realise their impact or how they have shaped the culture of not only women’s sport but just Australian sport,” she explained.
“To share that moment [with Goolagong Cawley] as Indigenous women in front of a packed stadium of people that fell in love with football – yeah, that was pretty special.”
Just because she is retiring from the national team doesn’t mean that impact will cease. Williams described how she hopes to continue to grow the sport and spread her legacy.
“I love telling my story and going out and doing a lot of speaking,” she said. “I’d love to continue that because I think that helps encourage the public, and – ultimately – children who are going to be the future of this country and achieve great things.
“So, for me, it’s about what’s going to be the best way to keep myself encouraging and inspiring the next generation for this country, for this sport.”
When she left the field just before half-time, she embraced her replacement, Mackenzie Arnold. She described what their exchange meant when her long-time understudy entered the pitch.
“I’ve known Mackenzie for a really long time,” she began. “She’s been there for when I was starting a lot and being at World Cups and being on the stage and playing against her during W-League [A-League Women] seasons and seeing how she’s grown.
“She’s pushed me to be a better goalkeeper, and likewise I pushed her to be the best goalkeeper as well. The tides started to shift when she was getting more in form.
“It was a real moment where it was just us two on the pitch, having that moment of respect and admiration for each other of where we’ve both come and where we are now, and knowing that both of us couldn’t have achieved what we have without the other person.”
Head Coach Tony Gustavsson spoke eloquently about the role that Williams has played in the culture and values of the team.
“Seeing this reminds us that football can be so much more than a 90-minute football game or a goal or a clean sheet,” he explained.
“Even though we did say, as a team in the last huddle before we went out, that the best way we can honour Lydia is to keep a clean sheet – make sure she’s not even touching the ball!
“This preparation helps ahead of the Olympics because we gain energy as a group and a family, we connect to the fans in that family and that circle as well. That gives us a lot of energy and belief when we go to the Olympics.”
On the grass, Gustavsson outlined the reasons he was happier with the performance in match two than in match one on Friday night.
“We were very, very aggressive, very attacking-minded, and we should have been 2-0 up after 20 minutes,” he detailed.
“We finished the first half a bit slow. We did some tactical tweaking at half-time, not just personnel-wise, but we did a change in rotation on the left-hand side, because we didn’t get Steph [Catley] and Mary [Fowler] included in the game enough and that caused a lot of problems for them to solve.
“I think we played three or four different shapes tonight in terms of attacking rotations and it paid off.”
One of those half-time changes was Cortnee Vine coming off the bench to replace Michelle Heyman. He acknowledged that Vine played well while being a different kind of player to Heyman – who is more of a traditional, “back-to-goal” number 9, while Vine has a greater ability to play off the shoulder of the last defender and get in behind.
He was pleased that the team was able to find solutions in the attacking space, given that so many forward options – including Sam Kerr, Holly McNamara, Amy Sayer, and Caitlin Foord - were unavailable for the match.
Finally, Gustavsson was asked about his coaching future with the CommBank Matildas.
“According to the situation right now, it might be my last camp,” he stated. “That means it’s been a very emotional camp for me.”
“When I walked around the pitch after the game tonight and thought about all the memories that we’ve created in this stadium and all other stadiums. To see that we can finish off this way, it was a very nice moment to share with Lydia and the team and the fans.”