'Super sub' gets praise from team mates

Matildas midfielder Heather Garriock has praised ‘super sub’ team mate Lisa De Vanna, after the speedy striker provided the catalyst for a strong second half performance that saw Australia beat Ghana 4-1 in the opening group match of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup being played in China.

Matildas midfielder Heather Garriock has praised ‘super sub- team mate Lisa De Vanna, after the speedy striker provided the catalyst for a strong second half performance that saw Australia beat Ghana 4-1 in the opening group match of the 2007 FIFA Women-s World Cup being played in China.

De Vanna came on at half time, scoring twice and caused all sorts of problems for the Ghanaian defence with her speed, as Australia piled on three second half goals to run away with the game.

The tiny West Australian-s double took her goal tally to 15 in 45 A-international appearances and on that showing must be a strong contender for a starting berth against group favourites Norway on Saturday night.

“To be honest, she is a gun player,” Garriock said, when asked of her team mates performance. “She is such an impact player; her speed is phenomenal and she really did the job for us last night.

“It was a good tactic by Tom (Sermanni) to bring her on and she did the business. She is just so unpredictable; she is really hard to stop and a great little player and we were happy for her.”

Garriock said she had spoken with Lisa about starting against Norway, but Lisa wasn-t worried if she did or didn-t, just as long as she could make an impact and do the business, like she did against Ghana.

De Vanna-s performance off the bench will give coach Tom Sermanni plenty to think about for the Norway match, especially with such an embarrassment of riches that he has at his disposal up front.

Sarah Walsh was another to find the back of the net and combined brilliantly with good effect with De Vanna, setting up her first goal and going close herself several times to add more goals late in the match.

It-s this competition for places that acts as a big spur for Walsh, but she acknowledges that depending on which team they are playing, her place is no guarantee from one match to the next.

“It-s a huge spur,” Walsh said of the competition. “There are four of us vying for the two positions, but to be honest at this level, he (Tom Sermanni) could play anyone of us and get the same result.

“Last night he wanted speed up front with myself and Lisa up front in the second half. But you-ve got Katie (Gill) with her height and Caitlin (Munoz) with her strength to hold the ball up and sometimes you need that balance. We-ll probably need that against Norway.”

Walsh, despite scoring, was not that pleased with her performance and knows that she won-t get as many opportunities in the next two matches and must take some of the chances that she missed.

“Personally myself, I wasn-t very happy with my game. I missed way too many chances and you may only get one of those in a game, so I definitely have to look at that."

As for the goal.

“I think I shocked myself that I hit it with my left foot, as that-s usually for standing on. But I was very relieved (when it went in).”

While relived to get that first ever win at a World Cup finals, both acknowledge that the real tests are yet to come and that they won-t be resting on their laurels.

“Totally different,” was Walsh-s response to what they can expect in terms of style of play against Norway. “They (Norway) will be a lot more structured; there is no way I will be left alone up on the halfway line by myself (like she was against Ghana).

“It will be pretty much a 4-4-2 and they will keep that quite structured, so we are going to have to play a little more football. I am not saying we didn-t play football last night, but you just have to play the game on its merits.

“Norway are a classy football team and we will have to pick our game up if we are going to win that one,” Walsh added.

“We watched them (Norway) last night and they were very, very physical,” said Garriock. “But they play good football as well, so its going to be a great match. I think the point of difference in our team is our speed up front. If we can deliver from midfield that will be the point of difference in the game.”

Garriock will be a key in that midfield setup and is relishing moving back into the left midfield role after playing as a left fullback for a number of years. Against Ghana she had lots of space with which to attack and managed to get in the box and score a great goal with her head, something that she hasn-t been able to do before at international level.

“It-s brilliant that Tommy has given me the opportunity to play in the position that I love the most - left midfield.

“In terms of my own performance; yeh I did okay and the goal was an extra thing, but collectively as a team we-ve got a lot to improve on both defensively and in attack. I hope we can do that against Norway, but I was moderately happy with my game.”