As Aussies tend to their bruised pride after the Matildas’ brutal 3-1 loss to England, one moment from the semi-final showdown has left us something to have a chuckle about.
Shortly after the 80th minute, cameras cut to Matildas coach, Tony Gustavsson, as the team scrambled in an attempt to equalise and keep their World Cup dream alive.
Gustavsson was shown frantically gesturing with his hands in a cryptic message to players, accompanied by an array of strained facial expressions.
Aussies online, bewildered by the coaches’ cryptic message, quickly jumped online to share their mostly endearing thoughts.
“What’s going on Tony?” one asked.
Others made humorous attempts at deciphering what he was talking about.
“It means run forward and run backwards, then run forwards and run backwards, what do you mean? What do you do with the ball? What ball?” one fan jokingly suggested.
“It means get the ball in their net and stop them putting the ball in our net,” another facetiously added.
Plenty saw it as flat-out humorous.
“We were in stitches watching that, thinking exactly the same (as Gustavsson),” one said.
“My friend and I were p***ing ourselves at this part,” added another.
“My family all started mimicking him and cracking up and then started doing the finger and mimicking,” another said.
Speaking post-match, Gustavsson said Australia’s unprecedented success in the World Cup “needs to be the start of something”, prompting him to call on the federal government to increase funding to ensure the nation builds on its semi-final run.
“They and the generations before them have worked hard to be in this moment,” Gustavsson said.
“It’s a bit emotional to sit here and talk about that when you lose a semi-final because I hate to lose, but football is bigger than 90 minutes.
“We’re very disappointed in the loss, but hopefully we won something else. We won the hearts and the passion for this game in this country.
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“This is not the end of something; this needs to be the start of something, and with that comes money as well.”
The Matildas’ World Cup campaign ended in heartbreak and scenes of devastation at Stadium Australia on Wednesday night as England showed their class, winning 3-1.
It means England will play Spain for the 2023 Women’s World Cup on Sunday, while the Matildas will play Sweden on Saturday night at 6pm at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium in the 3rd placed playoff.
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