Sermanni: "It's better being frustrated now than closer to the Asian Cup."

CommBank Matildas Interim Head Coach Tom Sermanni said he was frustrated with the result of the game after a hard fought 2-1 defeat against Colombia.

He was speaking at the post-match press conference after Australia’s final game of the SheBelieves Cup.

“Possession-wise, chances-wise, football-wise, we created enough chances to win the game,” he said.

“The disappointing thing was, when we actually got ourselves back in the game [Raso’s equaliser], that should have been a key for us to really start to push forward and really start to dominate the game – and then we went to sleep almost immediately, and gave up a really cheap goal.

“That sort of stuff is frustrating. In hindsight, it’s better being frustrated now and hopefully try to fix it up by the time the Asian Cup comes around next year.”

He confirmed that Ellie Carpenter, who went off the pitch in the first half, was taken off as a precaution after feeling tightness in her hamstring. She was due to play a maximum of 45 minutes in this game regardless.

Sermanni said that while the results of this tournament did not go Australia’s way, he expected the preparation for the two matches against Korea Republic to be much smoother in April.

“We didn’t quite have the kind of preparation that you would want to have coming into this kind of tournament, so I think it was fair to expect our performances to be a little bit patchy, and that’s exactly what happened,” he said.

“If you look forward to April, by that stage, all of the players would be back and playing in their competitions. So our team should be better prepared for those games in April.”

However, he acknowledged that there was lots of work to do after this tournament.

“There are a few things, as a team and individually, that we need to do better at this level,” he said.

“I don’t think, if I look at our games, the tactical structure is something that’s cost us these games. There are other parts to our football that we need to improve on heading into next year.

“I’ve had some experience with this. If you’re going to go through some bad times, it’s better having them now where you’ve got time to go in and try and sort them out, than it is if this was a year’s time and we’re talking about the Asian Cup coming up in a month’s time.”

Attention now turns to a home series against the Republic of Korea in April.

COMMBANK MATILDAS | MARCH/APRIL 2025 INTERNATIONALS

CommBank Matildas v Korea Republic
Date: Friday, 4 April 2025
Kick-off: 8.00 pm AEDT
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Broadcast: Network 10, 10 Play and Paramount+
Tickets: matildas.com.au/tickets

CommBank Matildas v Korea Republic
Date:  Monday, 7 April 2025
Kick-off: 7:30 pm AEST
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Broadcast: Paramount+ exclusive
Tickets: matildas.com.au/tickets