… As Injury rocks Australia camp
Super Falcons coach, Randy Marlon Waldrum has charged his players to be clinical in front of goals if they are to Australia to brighten their chances of advancing in the group.
Waldrum, who urged the players to be cautious as well, said he has no doubt of the Falcons’ abilities to beat the co-host this morning.
“I’m not worried about the quality of my team. We have quality in the team, we have players that can score goals and we just have to make sure when those opportunities come that we’re clinical,” the American coach said.
“At this level, it’s all about getting results and getting points out of it. Maybe I would worry more if we weren’t creating opportunities at all but we have been.
“It’s a very, very difficult group. So you’re not going to be putting in four or five goals a game in this kind of group,” he added.
The Super Falcons will be without Deborah Ajibola Abiodun who picked up a red card in the latter stages of the game against Canada while Australia will be missing three of their stars, Samantha Kerr, Mary Fowler and Aivi Luik due to injury concerns.
For Waldrum, the imminent absence of these players from the Matildas ahead of the clash won’t change the intended approach of his team or lead to a false sense of security.
“Well, we never like to see players injured and I know how devastating that is, missing matches in the World Cup,’ Waldrum told the media in a pre-match presser.
“But I don’t think it really changes our tactics and what we’re trying to do – they obviously still have a lot of weapons that can hurt you.
“I know a lot of their players really well from playing back in the NWSL when I was coaching in the pro league and I know the quality of those players so we can’t go into the match thinking we’re at some advantage for that reason,” he said.