CANBERRA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The head coach of Australia's national women's football team has declared the side is showing signs of progress under his reign.
Tony Gustavsson, who took over as head coach of the Matildas in September 2020, said the team was starting to be consistent in recent victories over New Zealand from the two-game friendly series this month.
The Matildas beat the Football Ferns, the New Zealand women's national football team, 3-1 in Canberra on Tuesday night following a dramatic 2-1 stoppage-time victory on Friday night.
"Internally, we have seen the progress and the journey for a while now, even if the results might not have been there," Gustavsson said after the match on Tuesday night.
Gustavsson faced some criticism over the Matildas' failure to capitalize on chances after they were knocked out of the Asian Cup in the quarterfinals by South Korea in January despite registering more than twice as many shots.
The problems were again present on Friday night, with the Matildas needing two goals in stoppage time to beat New Zealand 2-1 despite having 37 shots to three.
However, the Australians regained their ruthlessness on Tuesday, scoring three times in the first 35 minutes, including two goals from captain Sam Kerr.
"We always want to get on the front foot and score early goals in the first 15 minutes," Gustavsson said.
"From the fifth minute until our third goal, we were playing phenomenal football and I liked the variation of how we scored goals: We're good at transition, we're good at breaking down organized teams who park the bus, and we're good at set plays."
Australia and New Zealand will co-host the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup where hopes for the Matildas are high after being knocked out of the 2019 tournament on penalties by Norway.
Gustavsson also said the second half of Tuesday night's game was a "great opportunity" to practice game management ahead of the World Cup.
"You could say that New Zealand took over the game but it was us letting them have the ball because we feel that now we need to prepare for a World Cup scenario where we may need to protect the lead or change the shape," he said. ■