'It's World Cup standard': Matildas coach praise stings ACT government bid decision

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson's praise for Canberra Stadium's playing surface ahead of Tuesday night's game had no malice behind it.

But after the government withdrew its bid to host any games in the 2023 FIFA World Cup citing costs, it will remain a question of what could have been for the capital.

A silver lining is it means the Australian side have everything they need to make it two from two against the Football Ferns come Tuesday.

With their pre-game training at Canberra Stadium deemed one of the best in terms of tempo, quality and energy.

"I spoke to the goalkeeper coach when I came out onto the field and said, 'this is World Cup standard'," Gustavsson gushed.

"This is one of the best fields we've been at, it's amazing and I think that's also the reason why the pre-[game] session was so good.

"Obviously the focus of the players contribute to it, but the pitch as well. So we can definitely play fast ... because the pitch is phenomenal."

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There will be three key areas Gustavsson wants his side to work on against the Kiwis, and over the next 15 months in the lead up to the World Cup.

Speed of play, defensive focus for the full 90 minutes and putting away opportunities in front of goal.

The latter resulted in 37 shots in Townsville but only two goals in the dying stages of the match to put to work the Never Say Die attitude of the Matildas to make it 2-1.

"It's all about doing what we want to do, but setting our own standards no matter who we play against," he said.

"Even if you have some combination plays and move the ball good, we need to do it faster. So it's how fast can we play? That's one thing that I want to see.

"We got away at times defending when we weren't really 100 per cent focused. If you're not 100 per cent focusing every single second off the ball you can get hurt. That lack of concentration for 30 seconds could cost you a goal at international level.

"We could have been three to four nil up at halftime if we look at the chances that we created. So if we can play the same type of attacking football, but convert our chances, I think we will be in a better place."

The Matildas, unlike the Kiwis who have some players not operating at 100 per cent capacity, have a green tick next to every players name. Gustavsson said it would obviously make his selection harder but that was a good problem to have.

One of the criticisms the side fielded after their AFC Asian Cup quarter-final loss in January was their lack of build up in attack.

But attacking combinations were one area the side excelled at against New Zealand in the first game of the series.

Gustavsson said the change in attacking play last week was not a recent change. It had been a focus since the Brazil camp in October, but nerves got the better of players in the South Korea match.

"If you look at the amount of times our attack led in the final third entries, it's the best we've ever had throughout my 12 months with the team," he said.

"We had almost 90 per cent of our attack going through the final third, which is definitely not normal from an international standpoint as well.

"The amount of chances we created as well, but mostly the variation of how we created the chances. We had centre combination more than we had before, we had transition moments, we broke them down with a lot of longer passing sections.

"And then as always, we are really, really tough to deal with on set plays and that's also what won us the game."

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