It's the hype that builds the hope, and it's the hope that kills you

The Matildas at the cross roads after Paris flameout and a reality check looms, writes Michael Lynch.

Tony Gustavsson's tactics may have been ''organised chaos'' as some Matildas suggested in the immediate inquest to their embarrassing failure in the Paris Olympics Football Tournament.

The Swede may well have not been the right man for the job - as many thought to be increasingly obvious even in the earliest months of his tenure.

And the coach may well have put too much store on the abilities of his superstar striker Sam Kerr.

It often looked as though the only tactic he really favoured was to hoof the ball forward in the Chelsea striker's direction and hope that she could run the channels sufficiently well to get enough opportunities to score - a tactic that succeeded often enough to bring fans hope of greater things to come, but one which was severely compromised when she was unavailable through injury, as she was for these Olympics.

All that may be true.

But it simply does not excuse the team and players themselves for yet another tournament of underachievement, where their ambition clearly exceeded their abilities and their attitude was at times called into question by those watching near and far.

The Matildas have some decent players, one exceptional forward (albeit now getting on in years and susceptible to injury) and one steely and experienced leader in Steph Catley who, over the years, has been a steadying, classy force at the back.

But, with Kerr's exception, they are far from world beaters and that has been apparent for some years now.

Sure, they put on a bold show in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, reaching the semi-finals before losing to European champions England. But, if we are being honest, the semi-finals were merely a pass mark for a team that had all the advantages in that competition.

Playing at home, with huge fan, media and corporate support behind them - not to mention the best preparation the FA's budget could give them - they would have been failures had they not reached at least that stage.

And even in doing so, they flew by the seat of their pants: struggling against Ireland and losing to Nigeria in the group stages before getting their campaign back on track with a thumping of Olympic champions Canada, who were inexplicably poor in that game in Melbourne.

It took goalkeeping heroics from Mackenzie Arnold to get them past France in the quarter-finals in a penalty shoot-out before England, with 59 per cent possession in front of a fervent home crowd, beat them 3-1.

The Matildas, as I said, are a decent team but they are now not near the global standard set by the best women’s teams in the world - although the Australian public at large, who don't really follow football that closely (especially the women’s game) seem to be labouring under the illusion that they are close to the top of the tree.

Too many of their players have too many miles on their legs and are past their best, and while no--one is arguing that the team does not need a new coach, anyone who knows the game would agree that the playing squad also needs a reboot — particularly in defence.

To have conceded five goals to Zambia and ten in all in three group games was a catastrophic failure. By all means, praise their spirit, attitude and never-say-die commitment in coming back to win 6-5 against the Africans, but that only gets you so far.

There is still, however, a nucleus of talented younger players available around whom a new side can be built, but it will take a strong-minded and tactically adept coach to oversee that reconstruction.

Over the years there has been much made of the so-called culture around the Matildas: friends supporting friends, certain players having great influence over others and even the squad selection.

And there was, of course, the furore over their most successful recent coach, Alen Stajic, who was forced to resign over a welter of allegations and social media innuendo just before the 2019 World Cup.

Stajic has maintained a dignified silence since his departure, to his credit, and he is now getting on with his life and will coach West Sydney Wanderers in the upcoming A-League Men’s season.

I covered that tournament in France, and some of the failings now were evident then, too, in part masked by a heroic, backs-to-the-wall comeback win over Brazil; the Miracle in Montpelier, a victory that once more raised hope and expectation to unsustainable levels.

It all ended in tears when a lacklustre Australia went out in the round of 16 on penalties to a Norway side that was no longer the feared unit it had been when international women’s football began picking up steam 30 years before and they were amongst the sport's leaders.

There was an inability to take the game by the scruff of the neck, to take chances, to control opponents and to impose themselves fully on a match. Back then, five years ago, there was an overreliance on Kerr too.

Five of the starting eleven from that loss against Norway five years earlier started against the USA in the game this week that ended Australia's Paris hopes, with a further three who were on the bench that night in Nice starting against the Americans.

Those selections are either a tribute to the players' concerned skill and longevity or a comment on the lack of younger rivals of sufficient quality coming through to displace them. Or a safety-first approach by a coach who perhaps did not want to rock the boat.

The biggest positive around the Matildas has been their growth as the commercial engine of Australian football, a growth which mirrors the strides that womens sport in general has taken in the past decade.

They have become a hot property with marketers, sponsors and business backers but that has coincided with something of a siege mentality around the squad and those involved with it, where criticism of the team's performances is scathingly put down - a mindset that suggests if you are not 100 per cent with us you are against us.

That needs to change.

The FA have leaned heavily on the Matildas as the banner for Australian football and have been able to reap the fiscal benefits from their growth in popularity.

It now remains to be seen whether the bandwagon jumpers and those pumping the hype machine will stay on board now that reality has bitten and a rebuild is required.

For the sake of the game, those looking at the bottom line will desperately hope so.