A day after the Group D match between USA and Australia I’ve come to understand a bit more about the game and the result.

It helped to spend long hours in the first bar reflecting that night, completely sober I might add, and many more hours in another bar the next afternoon, still completely sober.

What is without doubt true is that everyone, fans, media and players alike, were passionate about this game, as they should be.

Depending on which part of the world you come from there’s a level of bias but some things are true wherever you hail from.

One, Hope Solo is a fascinating player to watch both on and off the field.

Two, the Matildas shocked and outplayed the US for periods of the match.

Three, Megan Rapinoe’s brilliance shone brightly on the day.

One

Hope Solo’s early saves were instrumental in keeping the US at close range in the initial stages of the match.

Amazing reflexes coupled with relentless concentration and focus showcased why Solo is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, saving not one but two almost certain bullets from the Aussies.

The first, a long range strike from Emily Van Egmond tipped to the crossbar denied the Matildas an early lead. The second followed shortly afterwards, denying Sam Kerr’s breathtaking volley.

Van Egmond credited Solo’s impressive performance saying “She really pulled off some incredible saves that I’ve never seen before in women’s football. If I was the US, I would be very thankful for having Hope in goals today”.

Two

Australia were able to dominate the US in the early stages of the match and were on par with them for close to the first 60 minutes.

The Matildas worked cohesively as a team, a fact they demonstrated by their solitary goal which came not from one piece of individual brilliance, but from a combination of more than three players.

Teamwork is definitely the “thing” with the Aussies. Players like Van Egmond, Gorry and Elise Kellond-Knight all put in strong performance, but it was the sum total of every player doing their job which is the key.

Katrina Gorry summed up the sentiment of the first half.

“Staj (Alen Stajcic) was pretty happy at halftime. We created quite a few chances and we were playing pretty well I think. The momentum was in our half and we were pretty excited going into the second half”.

Unfortunately for the Aussies, as time ticked along they struggled to maintain structure, flagging under the persistent intensity from the US.

Stajcic plays an attacking brand of football, playing to win rather than going for just one point.

It can be a divisive tactic amongst Aussie fans who fancy themselves as coaches.

To complete outsiders they may question his tactics of making attacking substitutions rather than injecting fresh legs into defence when Laura Alleway was clearly struggling with injury and fatigue.

Playing in her 100th international appearance, Lisa De Vanna gets it.

“It’s a world cup you just want the three points. Ugly, pretty, you just want those points”.

The statistics show a relatively even match with the Aussies slightly edging out the US with shots on goal at 6 and 5 respectively. Attacking works but it didn’t secure any points with Australia unable to maintain the ferocity for the full 90.

Add to that the fact that the Matildas were seemingly unable to modify their approach to counter the US.

“I think they changed their game plan and we didn’t know how to adjust to it.  A couple of mistakes from us and they counterattacked and scored from them” said Lisa De Vanna after the match.

It’s only one game with two more to come. Time will tell if playing for one point could have been more important than playing for a win.

Van Egmond isn’t worried.

“We’ve still got two games, the girls are in high spirits, everyone’s positive and we’re very confident going into these next two games”.

Three

Rapinoe is an artist. Her opening goal against the run of play highlighted the amazing influence Rapinoe has.

Yes the goal was a fortunate deflection but more importantly it accentuated that Rapinoe doesn’t need much, if any, space and can create chances from anything.

Rapinoe is an individual and an influencer which can uplift her team.

Where the US struggled with the Aussie midfield and tried penetrating lobs, Rapinoe carried and drove the ball along the flanks, breaking through when no-one else could.

Sure Leroux was able to bulldoze through, but Abby Wambach was largely ineffective as were a number of US players who should be looking to improve before their next match against Sweden.

Amongst that list is probably Carli Lloyd and Lauren Holiday who didn’t have anywhere near the influence you would expect from them.

One player who was perhaps somewhat inconspicuously dominant was the remarkable Becky Sauerbrunn. Her game often seems relaxed and subdued but very few players have the influence she has without you even noticing.

Australian Sam Kerr’s impact was kept to a bare minimum because that’s what Sauerbrunn is able to do. Eliminate threats.

The end result of all of this is that both teams had some positives and both teams will need to improve and refine their games throughout the tournament if they’re to get to the end.