Sermanni: It was more like how we want to play
CommBank Matildas Interim Head Coach Tom Sermanni and goalkeeper Teagan Micah agreed that the team’s 1-0 victory over Korea Republic was vital to build momentum ahead of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026™.
They were talking to media at the official post-match press conference after Friday night’s match at Allianz Stadium.
“It was very important, it was critical to win,” Sermanni said.
“It’s no secret that the SheBelieves Cup wasn’t a great tournament for us for a variety of reasons. Then we come in tonight and obviously Hayley Raso’s been injured, Macca [Mackenzie Arnold] has been injured, Ellie [Carpenter]’s been injured, and we’re managing minutes with some of the other players. When you put all that together, I thought it was a really terrific effort from the team.
“It was more like how we want to play. Not just about the quality, but how we actually want to go about the games. If you look back at our last several games, apart from the Chinese Taipei games, we’ve kind of been on the back foot from the start – conceding goals early, and always chasing the game. I thought tonight the attitude from the start was very good.”
While things can’t always go to plan on a football field, Sermanni explained that victories are incredibly important to building momentum.
“International teams have up and downs based on a whole variety of things - but at some stage, you have to try to get momentum back,” he mused.
“That was the key thing that we talked about tonight. [Winning] changes the mood, it changes the confidence. Getting out there and getting the win was really important and hopefully that will start to build more momentum into the next game, and more momentum heading into the Asian Cup.”
Micah agreed, stating that the win came as somewhat of a relief to the group.
“It’s a big relief, kind of, performance from us as a collective,” she said.
“It was a really hard tournament for us [the SheBelieves Cup], and we didn’t accept that as a playing group. We didn’t want to go out that way. We came together and we said yeah, let’s turn things around. I think we did that tonight and I’m really proud of that.”
Not only was it the team’s first victory of 2025, it was also their first clean sheet. Micah was quick to praise the efforts of the defenders around her for the milestone.
“Of course I’m happy with a clean sheet, but more importantly I’m really happy for the girls,” she said.
“They worked really hard tonight. We really needed that as a team, as a collective, to get a clean sheet, not just me.
“It felt like a team effort. Whether it was Lans [Alanna Kennedy] having a good header out of the box, we all got around each other.”
Sermanni was asked about different individual performances in the game. He said that Holly McNamara’s “old-fashioned centre-forward” play was causing all sorts of issues for Korea Republic, and praised Jamilla Rankin’s performance in her starting debut.
He elaborated on a big part of the team’s game plan against high-quality opponents from Asia as part of the preparations for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026™.
“It would have been good to get a goal earlier because I thought we started the game very well, but we did want to start on the front foot,” he said.
“We talked about being aggressive, pressing aggressively, and not taking a backwards step, trying to play at a tempo that made Korea uncomfortable. I think, particularly starting the game, we did that really well.
“The key thing when we come up against Asian teams… we’ve really got to go out aggressively, to really try to close them down and make them uncomfortable.”
Finally, he was asked about the impact that the return of Sam Kerr to the group in a training capacity was having on the squad in light of the positive reception for the striker from the over 37,000 fans at Allianz Stadium as she watched from the stands.
“The real Matildas supporters showed what they think of Sam Kerr, and they’re absolutely delighted to have her back, as are the team, as are the staff,” he said.
“It’s really good to have her back. She’s been a real positive influence around the squad, and hopefully it’s not too long before she’s back on the pitch.”
Next Game
Commbank Matildas v Korea Republic
Date: Monday, 7 April 2025
Kick-off: 7:30 pm AEST
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
TV Broadcast: Paramount+ exclusive
Radio Broadcast: ABC Listen App
Tickets: matildas.com.au/tickets