Australia’s 3-2 loss to the South Americans in Penrith on Saturday took many by surprise, not least  the players, whose poor finishing and defensive lapses could cost them a seeded spot at next year’s World Cup.

And today Matildas head coach Alen Stajcic addressed the questions and concerns raised by the upset.

“I think in the first half we were quite good; we controlled the game, we controlled possession, but as we know we gave away one silly error that let them back into the game,” he said.

“We needed to capitalise more in that moment when we were on top. [In the] second half, we lost our way a little bit [after] they got that early goal, with some scoreboard pressure on top of the pressure of the actual game.”

All three of Chile’s goals came from Australian errors, whether poor back-passes, or poor decision-making when defending in the box and Stajcic said: “They’re gonna happen.

"It just so happens that we had two or three in the one game and it’s not what we want. Hopefully, you don’t have two or three in a season, but to have two or three in a game, we certainly gifted a lot of those opportunities to Chile….

"From our perspective, we know we need to be better.”

Despite the role the Matildas played in their own defeat, Stajcic was complimentary to Chile.

“[You] can’t take anything away from an opposition like that," he said. "They came here, they’re away from home, they defended as hard as they could, they capitalised on our two or three errors and came away with the win.

“I never underestimated [them]. They’re a great team. They’ve qualified for the World Cup. They’re a South American country with great pedigree and great passion and emotion about football… [and with] a lot of experience in watching and playing at a high level.

"We knew they’d be a good team.”