"It's important to treat a team with respect by playing our best game."

After the Commonwealth Bank Matildas got their 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup campaign off to a blistering start, skipper Sam Kerr and head coach Tony Gustavsson spoke to media in the official post match press conference.

Subsribe to Win Thin Banner


While Indonesia are the lowest ranked side in the competition, Australia was focused on not being complacent in the first meeting between the two nations.  

"I think we've shown the ultimate respect to Indonesia today by coming out with our best team," Australia's new leading goalscorer, Kerr, said.

"We scouted them before the game and knew they had some tricky players and we weren't going to take it lightly.  This is the Asian Cup and we're here to get as far as we can in the tournament." 

Gustavsson echoed Kerr's sentiments when asked about the reasoning behind choosing such a strong squad to deliver an 18-0 result.

MATCH REPORT: Records shattered as Commbank Matildas open Asian Cup campaign in style

READ: Sam Kerr becomes Australian football's all-time leading goalscorer

"I think there are plenty of reasons, one is that it's an opening game of the tournament and it's very important to set the tone for a team to get off on a good start," he explained.

"I've been in a similar situation before as a coach going into a tournament against a lower-ranked team and know how important is to treat that team with respect, but also show respect to our values and our standards."

He also spoke about the importance of game minutes and load management for players.


"The other thing we need to remember is that our international team don't get many minutes together. Pre-camp has been very short leading into this one.

"We have some players coming back from different situations that actually need minutes to get up and running," he continued.

"We worked very closely with our Sports Science and Sports Medicine (SSSM) team to look at which players need to make the minutes in a tournament. That's why we did all those halftime subs because we had a plan for if the game went where we wanted to, to not overload some of the players.

"There's different reasons, but the number one reason is that we need that cohesion between the players and to get off on a good start; to send some messages to ourselves and to the others about how we are treating this tournament."

The Commonwealth Bank Matildas will move onto their next group stage opponent when they face the Philippines on Monday.



Philippines v Commonwealth Bank Matildas
Date: Monday, 24 January 2022
Venue: Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Kick-off:  3.30pm (local), 9pm (AEDT)
Broadcast: Live and Exclusive on Network 10 and 10 Play

Commonwealth Bank Matildas v Thailand
Date: Thursday, 27 January 2022 / Friday, 28 January 2022
Venue: Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Kick-off: 7.30pm (local), 01:00am (AEDT)
Broadcast: Live and Exclusive on Network 10 and 10 Play

For more information on the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, please visit here.