Matildas look to new era under Hesterine de Reus

That it’s nearly nine months since Australia’s women’s football team last played an international match in front of a crowd – a chastening 6-2 loss to the USA – illustrates one of the biggest challenges facing the Matildas’ new head coach, Hesterine de Reus.

Ahead of three international friendlies – beginning against New Zealand on Sunday in Canberra – and, shimmering on the horizon, the 2014 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, the 2015 Women’s World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, De Reus believes that if the Matildas are to rise above their world ranking of nine, much less threaten the likes of powerhouses USA, Germany, Japan and Brazil, they need to get out more often.

Outside of major tournaments, the Matildas play too few matches for De Reus’s liking, and rarely against the quality of opposition they are likely to encounter at the pointy end of the World Cup or Olympic Games. In 2012, for instance, they played six just matches, in 2011 they played seven, 2010 five, and in 2009 only two. “I think the Matildas need to play between eight and 12 international matches a year,” says the former PSV/FC Eindhoven women’s head coach who, in January, succeeded Tom Sermanni who had coached the Matildas since 2005, steering them to World Cup quarter-finals in 2011 and 2007, and an Asian Cup title in 2010. “That’s [the number of games] the other top international teams are managing. So we’re working to improve that.”

It’s the beginning of a new era for the Matildas and De Reus, 51, a former long-time PE teacher and defender capped 44 times for the Dutch national side, says she’s “beyond excited” in the lead up to her first games as Australia coach (her first official match was a closed door fixture against New Zealand at the Australian Institute of Sport on Thursday night, which the Matildas won 1-0). Australia’s co-captain Clare Polkinghorne says De Reus, who is known to be active in training, has brought an infectious energy to the Matildas squad, and her mere presence has fashioned a change. “Any time you’ve got a new coach everyone has to earn their position,” Polkinghorne says. “And you all start on a clean slate, so it doesn’t matter what you’d done in the past. So it rejuvenates everybody and makes people fight for their positions.”

Against the Kiwis on Sunday and then away against the Netherlands (29 June) and France (6 July) – both of whom are preparing for the Women’s European Championships which start on 10 July – De Reus is eager to see how well the Matildas translate training work they’ve done on their structure and shape into competitive matches. De Reus, who holds a Uefa Pro Licence, says the Matildas, who will be without strikers Lisa de Vanna (who scored this spectacular goal earlier this month), Kyah Simon and Kate Gill for the New Zealand matches, will be generally shaping up in a 4-3-3 formation and stressing possession football, playing out from the back, and a “Total Football” approach. “With the continuing development of the game, defences are so well organised that to break them down you need to surprise them with [overlapping] full-backs and switching of positions.”

De Reus believes the Matildas have the technical ability to play this style, even in the face of the demanding physicality they’ll face against the European teams. “I think our technical ability is comparable with the highest level. The problem for us is that big game experience.”

And it’s not just big game experience on the international stage to which De Reus is referring, for she believes a good amount of quality domestic football could make up for it. The problem is, in Australia, it doesn’t. The W-League features just 12 matches a season (rising to 14 next season), while the women’s premier league is considered not testing enough for Australia’s best female players. “The W-League is strong and I think the technical level [on show] is very good, but the season is just not long enough. It’s even worse for some of the younger players who come on as substitutes so they only play a small part of these games. Some European leagues have about 30 matches a season. That’s a big difference.”

While some players, like De Vanna (New Jersey-based Sky Blue FC), Tameka Butt (Frankfurt FC) and Sam Kerr (Western New York Flash), may spend the Australian off-season playing for overseas clubs, others will have to find challenging game time at home. De Reus believes a possible solution could be found by pushing for Australia’s best female talent to play in male teams between W-League seasons. In May, testing the waters, Australia under-19 player Emma Checker was selected to play for Adelaide’s West Torrens Birkalla’s under-18 premier league team and she’s since played a couple of matches. “We already organise training with boys and senior men’s teams but I would love to see [more] Matildas playing in male teams in the winter time,” says De Reus, who has form on the board in this regard what with her youthful exploits echoing, wonderfully, Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night.

Growing up in Poortugaal, outside Rotterdam, de Reus played “illegally” in boys teams until she was 12 because at the time there were no leagues for girls. That she did came about due to her persistence, which bodes well for the Matildas. “I used to play with my neighbours on the street and one night they went to our local club to join and I went with them and asked to join the training session,” she recalls. “After the coach talked and figured out I was a girl he thought, well, why not, let her train with us, so I started to ask every week ‘can I play?’ After one and half years asking that question he was so embarrassed to tell me no every time that the board decided they would allow me to play with the boys. So they hid it from the other teams. With my hair short and inside those jerseys it was hard for anyone to notice I was a girl. So I became the captain of the team and played until age 12.”

Such subterfuge isn’t needed today, but De Reus is convinced mixed gender football is a great way to improve Australia’s best female footballers. “We could design their programs around this, and figure out the most suitable teams or leagues for our best under-17 to under-20 players to go to. It would also allow us to keep a better eye on their work load and have more control over injuries [associated with that].”

But all that, says De Reus, is part of the future. As it’s wont to do, the present starts now. New Zealand, the Netherlands, and France await.