The road
to the FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003 has certainly been a long and winding one
for the Australian national team, and that was simply to get to North America.
Having arrived in Los Angeles yesterday from Ontario, after falling to Canada
2-0 in their final preparation match, the Matildas finally got a couple days off
in the Great White North.
“We gave everyone last Friday off so they could just get away from one
another,” Santrac said. “We knew this would be a long trip but I don’t think we
knew just how long it would be.”
The Aussies left home on 24 August for China, where they played two games
against the fourth-ranked team in the world. Not only did the Matildas lose
those matches, they also contracted a mystery stomach ailment that had the
contingent feeling slightly less than fresh.
“We’ve fully recovered now, but we were very concerned for a while,” Santrac
said. “At one point 24 out of 28 of us came down with the gastric infection. It
was something related to the hotel. What was particularly worrisome was there
was no warning and everyone came down with it within 24 or 36 hours of our
arrival.”
After playing China, the Aussies took their show on the road once more, bound
this time for England. The Australians flew from China to Japan, then on to
Frankfurt, Germany before touching down in Manchester, England, a 14,000-mile,
38-hour epic flight. After playing England, another loss, the Matildas went to
Scotland where they claimed a 1-0 win. From there it was another eight-hour
flight to Ottawa.
“It’s been quite a trip and we’re not quite finished,” Santrac said. “We
already experienced a lot -- from a bit of jet lag to changing time zones to
being sick. And we haven’t even gotten to the World Cup yet.”
Somehow, squeezed into all the flights and bouts with illness, the
Australians continued to prepare for USA 2003. Although he believes his squad
needs “a few more training sessions,” Santrac said he was happy with how his
players have dealt with their trip.
“We’ve all shared in the same adversity,” Santrac said. “We’ve been together
really since the Nike Cup in the U.S. last year, then the Australia Cup and the
World Cup qualifying tournament. We’ve developed a strong team dynamic and I
think what we’ve been through on this trip has brought the group much closer
together.”
The Australians landed in Canada on something of high. The Matildas beat
Scotland 1-0 on 6 September, snapping a five-game winless and three-game losing
streak. The tally also broke a 497-minute goalless stretch. Santrac, however,
said the results of the trip were not as important as the work his team
accomplished.
“We are still little bit behind in our preparations but overall we’re right
there,” Santrac said. “I’ve said all along that results are not what we were
looking for on this trip. We were far more concerned with working out things we
had to fix and building on our strengths.”
Santrac admitted the early bout with illness in China hampered him in
readying his squad, but he took the mystery virus in stride.
“We could also be in far worse shape than we are,” he said. “We are where we
are and that’s what we have to go by. We’ve made a lot of progress over the past
two weeks. Our strength is the strength of the group as a whole and that’s we’ve
worked on.”
Santrac said the Canada match would give him one final look at any weaknesses
his squad might have as well as provide him with a guide for what he needs to
improve in the days just before USA 2003 kicks off.
“I think it is all about deficiencies,” Santrac said. “In the end in
football, you have to find and exploit your opponent’s deficiencies. You know
they’ll have some, just like we will. It is simply up to us to find them. We
need to make the most of every opportunity we get. We don’t want to look back
and, ‘What if?’.”
