No Sam Kerr, no permanent coach, a horror showing on debut at a major tournament and now the lowest ranking ever; the shine has well and truly come off the Matildas since they became Australia’s No.1 team at the 2023 World Cup.
The latest FIFA rankings have heaped further misery on a team that was ordinary in three defeats at the SheBelieves Cup in the US that came on the back of a dismal Olympic campaign in Paris after which coach Tony Gustavsson stepped away.
Without injured captain Sam Kerr to bail them out with her bevy of goals, the Matildas have slumped to 16 on the world rankings, their joint-worst spot since they were introduced in 2003.
It’s a position they last held two decades ago in 2005.
As Football Australia stalls on appointing a successor to Gustavsson, with Tom Sermanni doing his best in the interim, the Matildas have battled for success since an exhilarating run to the World Cup semi-finals on home soil in 2023.
The Matildas were still in their familiar top-10 position this time two years ago.
But after defeats to Japan, the US and Colombia in the SheBelieves Cup, and performances that raised serious questions given the quality of the line-up, albeit without Kerr, the slide down the rankings has hit a new low.
The Matildas will next be in action in a two-game series against Korea Republic in April.
It’s unclear whether Kerr, who also endured an ugly court hearing in the UK during which she was found not guilty of the racially aggravated harassment of a police officer, will be back for those games.
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