(Reuters) – Australia coach Tony Gustavsson said he would limit his experiments with the side in the build-up to the Women’s World Cup after they ended their European camp with a 1-1 draw against Portugal on Tuesday.
Australia, who will co-host the 2023 World Cup with New Zealand, were thrashed 7-0 by Spain on Saturday, prompting questions about Gustavsson’s decision to rest key players for the trip and to field inexperienced sides against tough opponents.
“We’re starting to narrow things down now to the World Cup,” Gustavsson told reporters.
“You can say I didn’t do it at this camp … but the plan was to do it and we were thinking about well-being here and we changed the focus of this camp.
“(We’ve had) seven debutants in 14 months but you’re going to see very few debutants from now on to the World Cup.”
Princess Ibini gave Australia the lead against Portugal with 17 minutes remaining before Telma Encarnacao levelled three minutes from time.
Swede Gustavsson was heavily criticised for his response to the defeat to Spain, who are ranked number seven in the world, when he said he expected his team to lose.
“If you say I’m criticising the players and I’m throwing them under the bus I think you’re lying and you can talk to anyone who plays in this environment, that’s not what I’m about,” he said.
“I have played tough opponents all the time. Why do I do that? Because I believe in this team and I believe in these players, but they’re not in an environment now where we can expect them to win against Spain and that’s the truth.”
(Reporting by Michael Church in Hong Kong, Editing by Peter Rutherford)
