Matildas’ new era under interim coach begins with undistinguished draw against Switzerland

The Matildas’ hopes of starting their brave new world with a morale-boosting triumph have fallen flat in Zurich as they were left grateful to escape with a fairly undistinguished 1-1 draw against Switzerland.

Hoping to bounce back following their Olympic flop with a new interim coach Tom Sermanni at the helm, Australia’s women again failed to shine in their first match since the Games at Zurich’s Letzigrund Stadium.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Caitlin Foord scores in Matildas’ clash with Switzerland.

Despite the Swiss being the superior side in the first half, things still looked promising for Sermanni’s crew when Caitlin Foord won a penalty and converted it a couple of minutes before the break.

But it was cancelled out by Geraldine Reuteler’s 58th minute strike amid some panicky defending which enabled the world’s 25th-ranked side to earn a well-deserved draw against a side ranked 10 places higher in the FIFA hierarchy.

It could have been worse for the Matildas, captained by Ellie Carpenter for the first time with Steph Catley only getting a late cameo off the bench after recent injury woes.

For in the 90th minute, Swiss substitute Larina Baumann almost cashed in on more sloppy defending to hit the bar with a curling shot that had Mackenzie Arnold well beaten.

The Swiss could also look back with frustration on Smilla Vallotto’s glaring 40th minute miss when her weak shot when one-on-one couldn’t beat the smart Arnold.

Scot Sermanni had identified a “beaten up” Matildas side “low on confidence” and more in need of a win than a good performance as the World Cup semi-finalists embarked on their first match since their Olympic campaign crashed and burned in the south of France.

As it turned out, they got neither the result nor the performance, with not even a slew of substitutions, including the Matildas’ baptism of 18-year-old Daniela Galic, able to turn the tide even when they did begin to apply some belated pressure on the hosts near the end.

After the match, fans were all wondering why superstar striker Mary Fowler had been played out of position.

In fact, the Matildas social media account copped it from fans when it posted about the final result and used an image of Fowler.

“Pic of Mary? Ironic given Sermanni played her so out of position (full-back much of the time) and completely out of the game. Wtf,” one fan wrote.

“Can we play Mary Fowler in her position next game???” another asked.

And another said during the match: “Mary Fowler still playing deeper. She was trained as a #9 in her youth, plays as a winger/striker for Man City but the Matildas have a fascination with playing her deeper and wonder why they can’t get the best out of her?!?”

After the match, Sermanni was asked directly how could he get the best out of Fowler.

“I think in fairness to Switzerland they defended very, very well,” he said.

“So sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition and what they did.

“(But) for part of the time the midfield did not quite work out how to press or when to press and I think the result of that was Mary never really got a foothold in the game at any time.

“But I also thought a lot of her play went down the left-hand side tonight and that didn’t allow her to get on the game and start dictating the game.

“She’s a very talented footballer and still a young footballer (and) I don’t want to over expose her in a sense.

“But the game was difficult, for not just Mary, but it was difficult for our midfield players tonight because, as I said, Switzerland defended very well.

“They had lots of numbers in midfield and it made it difficult for us to get some quality possession in there, and that’s part of football.”

He said he felt like the team was “off the pace” in the first half and Switzerland were sharper and “got to the ball a little bit quicker”.

“I thought for big patches of the second half we dominated possession without creating a lot of chances,” he said..

“But I was a little bit disappointed with the quality of the goal we gave away. I thought it was very messy defensively from us.

“I think we had three or four opportunities to actually clear the ball and there shouldn’t have been that danger in the first place.”

- With Cameron Noakes