“I took a screenshot of that one,and I sent it to Arnie and said,‘Hey,what you’ve created with this team,hats off. I’m so proud and so happy,’” the Matildas coach told theHeraldandThe Age,as he pointed to the goosebumps that had raised on his arms as he relived Souttar’s memorable intervention.
“And then I sent it to the staff chat we have as well,and I said,‘Hey,this is what it’s about.’ If we can deliver this and promise this,all the other things will[come].”
As Souttar edges closer to a January transfer to an English Premier League side,Gustavsson is unashamedly using him,Arnold and the Socceroos’ spirited campaign as a blueprint of sorts for his players to follow in the crucial months that lie ahead of them.
Not tactically,of course - the Matildas are a different team with different players,a different style,and who sit in a very different place in the global pecking order than Australia’s men do.
But they were,in his eyes,a textbook example of the sort of manic commitment they must embody at every moment as they enter the home stretch towards their home Women’s World Cup,and their chance to captivate the nation. If the Socceroos could do that,why can’t they go deep?
“It doesn’t matter if it’s men’s football,women’s football,youth or adults - people are people,and what you can be inspired by from a performance like that is the leadership and the camaraderie,” Gustavsson said.