Familiar problems return for Matildas in frustrating defeat to Scotland

T he Matildas’ seven-game winning streak is over after a 46th-minute strike from Nicola Docherty handed Tony Gustavsson’s side their first defeat since last September. Yet again, Australia’s women put in a performance that hinted at promise, only to pair it with maddening shortcomings that threaten to derail any efforts to deliver on that potential.

Normal angst can now resume with a once-in-a-lifetime home Women’s World Cup just 103 days and two more friendly matches away. But perhaps this should not come as any surprise, even with the extended run of wins that preceded Friday’s outing in London. It has been a theme in both victory and defeat for years, ever since Gustavsson took over and every game became a piece of a much bigger puzzle, always analysed first and foremost through the prism of the looming World Cup.

Australia’s midfield was overrun in the latter stages of the first half at AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane, but Ellie Carpenter’s return from an ACL injury provided cheer. Increasing desperation to find an equaliser as the game went on and a slew of hit-and-hope long-range efforts resulted in 17 shots on goal, but only two were on target, while another strong showing off the bench from Alex Chidiac and numerous efforts bouncing off the frame of the goal were encouraging. Cynicism against optimism.

Ultimately though, just as it was unclear what a seventh straight win, over Jamaica to secure the Cup of Nations in February, meant for the Matildas’ World Cup chances, Friday’s defeat offers little clarity ahead of July’s start to the tournament.

More definitive omens about what lies ahead, perhaps, will be gleaned from a contest with reigning European champions England on Wednesday. The Lionesses downed Brazil on