Matildas coach defends Simon gamble after Fowler joins Kerr in ...
Another pre-match press conference, another poker game with Tony Gustavsson at the table.
“Sometimes you’re unlucky and you need to deal with the cards you’re handed,” he said on Wednesday. “And we’re ready to play those cards.”
Tony Gustavsson was again cagey on Sam Kerr and her calf injuryCredit: Getty
This time the dud hand was not an untimely Sam Kerr injury. This time it was Mary Fowler getting concussed in strange circumstances he had “never experienced anything like” before. And this time, one day out from Australia’s second World Cup match, that gamble on an unfit Kyah Simon was suddenly thrown into stark relief.
As soon as Football Australia revealed on Wednesday that Fowler would be unavailable to play against Nigeria, it became clear the Matildas were standing very close to the precipice. This past week has been all about Kerr’s calf – every sinewy inch of the most talked about lower left leg in the country.
However, the captain and striker also had an obvious on-field replacement in Fowler, who started against Ireland next to Caitlin Foord and was almost certain to again form one half of the two-prong attack at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night. When Fowler went down, all eyes turned to her obvious replacement: Simon.
Mary Fowler walks laps of Perry Park on Wednesday, a day after sustaining a concussion.Credit: Getty
Except that Simon is still making her way back from a ruptured ACL and is nowhere near ready to start. Gustavsson had selected her in the knowledge she would not be fit until later in the tournament, under the assumption he would not lose his other two strikers. Now he is down three attackers, one match into a home World Cup, and facing questions about why.
In traditionally mysterious Gustavsson form, he kept his cards close to his chest, declining to offer detail on Tuesday’s training-ground incidents that left Fowler and veteran defender Aivi Luik subject to FA’s concussion protocols and thus unavailable to play.
“I totally understand that if you didn’t see the training, if I were you sitting out there, I would go, ‘What the heck is happening in trainings? Two concussions in one training and two players out of the game’,” Gustavsson said.
“But it was a completely normal training. Two days out you always have a high-intensity, medium-sized game. We played eight v eight. Everything was good ... there was no physical contact and no teammates that were behind it. It was just pure bad luck, and two separate incidents. A bit unreal, to be honest – I never experienced anything like it.
Kyah Simon at training on Wednesday.Credit: Getty
“I don’t want to go into details on exactly what happened, just to keep the standards in what we normally do regarding training, meaning we keep it internal.”
Gustavsson also defended his decision to include Simon in his final 23-player squad based on her “experience and her personality”.
“I’m never going to regret picking Kyah,” he said. “I picked her for different reasons.
“One was we knew she was going to have limited minutes. But her game-changer quality was what we picked her for and what she showed in training last couple of weeks before selection was amazing. We knew it was a risk, but you never know what it’s going to be like.
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“The other thing is what she contributed to the group in the locker room and off the pitch with her experience and her personality, but also coming in big-pressure moments, for example extra-time and a PK [penalty kick] shootout.”
Gustavsson also dodged a question on whether Kerr’s tournament was over, continuing to the ongoing intense speculation about the severity of the Chelsea forward’s injury. On Wednesday, Kerr walked laps of the training field at Brisbane’s Perry Park – the most activity she has carried out publicly since hurting her calf a week ago.
Even before the press conference began, gathered media were asked to limit their Sam Kerr questions to one or two, and Gustavsson reiterated she would be reassessed after the Nigeria game and added that he would not have an update until the day before the Canada game on July 31.
“Because we want to wait until the last minute to see where she’s at in terms of availability,” Gustavsson said. “We’ve been as open as we can be to say it’s a calf injury that’s going to be reassessed after the Nigeria game.
“Me, personally, I don’t know more than that as of now. I just focus on the players that I have available for tomorrow and I know that’s all Sam wants as well.”
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