Still selling out stadiums though.
At this point in the evolution of football in Australia the FA needs to fill the coffers whilst maintaining respectable results.

Most serious football countries don't actually give a fuck about the Olympics.

and that all that matters right ? money.

Evolution ? tell us another one, the game has been in the same cycle of indecision for decades.
Its not all about the "coffers" and keep skimming off a over hyped NT that is more so gender driven of todays politics.
The FA don't always need $$$'s to improve the big picture of the game its about leadership and directive that is lacking whereas its all about protecting the cash cows.
Stand up, say were going ahead with NST, were going to align the game that has lacked forever.
Barca makes valid points and as does Sutho, Olympics is a media show.

Agreed for the men's. U23

Women's football takes olympics more seriously. 

Just finished watching the full match replay.

I'm not one to blame the ref as you'd know BUT the 1st goal was interesting from an 'interfering with play' perspective. In the euros that goal would have been ruled out. Arnold clearly (or not clearly more like it) could not see the header come of the girl to go back across the face because of the girl in front of her. (Whether the keeper would have got there has nothing to do with the decision.)

A shame because going in at nil all would have set them up better in the second half.

Also in the 55th minute a huge stomp above the ankle on Gorry that was a red but didn't even get a YC nor was it reviewed. The girl in question was already on a YC which meant she would have been sent off.

Second strike by the US was great. Her 1st goal for the US too so extra special.

Kennedy missing her header in the 2 minute of injury time will haunt her for a long time.

Beetoota did an article on that. Should have seen all the triggered man babies in the comments losing their shit. 

Meanwhile in an Olympics where the pool is the slowest it's ever been because it's too shallow the Chinese have broken a world record.

What a load of shit.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/swimming/chinas-pan-zhanle-claims-he-was-ignored-by-kyle-chalmers-before-olympic-100m-win/news-story/679621953940127adf708062e7164fbc

Australians really are sooks & bad sports.

And the Matildas are bringing in the desperately needed revenue but, as they say, there’s none so blind as they that will not see.

Didn't an Irish swimmer break the Olympic record? Ireland had never won a gold before in swimming, surely thats worse. 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/31/ireland-basks-in-glory-of-olympic-swimming-success

Anyway, just get JESS FOX in.👌👍😏

If the pool is that slow, surely a long distance record should be impossible to break. 

o wise 1 lol....mona.

Football Australia and Tony Gustavsson have mutually parted ways following the Matildas’ Olympics exit 👉 bit.ly/4cgvpqg

It doesn't have to be one or the other. The FA needs to take blame, but so to should the players and the coach. 

We can't keep doing this thing where we blow smoke up our players, both men and women and allow them to get by on doing the bare minimum. Too often we hear, "They tried so hard and put in effort, that's all we can ask for". 

Fozzie said it best. Other teams have gone the next step. We haven't. We  are going to get left behind if we are not careful. Our men are already heading in that direction.

its the classic aussie way, they did their best.
zim they are behind already, I agree in the end the FA are the ones who persisted with him, I said it earlier, the easy route whilst having full stadiums.

Now lets see who they end up going.

Mate there's the occasional Australian drug cheat and there systemic, industrial scale doping by governments. 

There's a reason hardly any of the swimmers,  not just us, want anything to do with them. 

There's one off's and then there's magical turtle soup.

Germany feel ripped off for a bronze with guilty Chinese swimmers participating. The Americans say plenty and GB, France etc shun the Chinese. They know. Our swimmers get caught with illegal levels after being prescribed some medication. Jack's was deliberate but the rest, like in any sports, fall victim to what is sill unclear in what a certain medication might show up in a test. China on the other hand are systematic. 

Thats how the Wallabies got to that stage, focusing on crowds and filling stadiums and less on the development of their national team and look where rugby is at the moment. 

No question things will asked about the players and the coaches as these things is the first port of call but for me it exposes bigger issues when it comes to the running of the national teams.

My concern is where is the next players coming through, seeing the lack of results at youth world cups in recent years tells me maybe the talent coming through might not be as strong as it should be for Australia to competing with some of the best in the world in an ever growing and competitive women’s game.

The overall lack of technical direction and questionable pathways especially that the state feds still have power on those pathways will pose more questions especially when the woman’s game is seeing club academies especially in Europe invest a lot more in the game.

It’s up to FA to show leadership and act accordingly and address our problems at pathway and grassroots level.

As someone said they want to sell out stadiums, their is no point of getting close to that in the future if the quality of the national team isn’t as good.

are there some decent players coming through that can do a job?

You make a valid point. Where is the next run coming from? Who are the next players. For example, Chidiac seems to have just fallen off the radar. Heyman had to come out of retirement. Macca doesn't seem to have a challenger or isn't being given one. When in a pickle, we are relying on and ageing Yallop. So, you are making some valid points. 

The reality is though, on paper, our players are performing well below the level they should be. The coach is not getting the best out of these players, nor was he playing the best tactics. You only have to look at his insistence to not mix things up in the World Cup. It's terrible management to play with a small squad creating fatigue. 

Managers should not only be focussed on their team, but also the development structure because they are the players they need for their depth. Tony never did this. He never really gave a shit beyond what was in front of him. Our players should also be taking accountability to improve and enhance their game, putting the squad before the personal. Can say for certain that some were more about the personal, and there was very little inkling of putting a hand up to go, "nah coach, we need depth, give me challenge". 

The lack of coaching talent is an issue as well, I think FA should spend resources not only on the player pathways but also the coaches that train the young players.

They still have the same youth coaches coaching these youth teams with the same results, something needs to change. 

I think the likes of Chondro could give a better estimation than me, the likes of Galic, Dos Santos are good players that should be fast tracked into the team.

Need a striker though.

Yep all good points made Barca as most times.
Mate this is where the FA should have pulled up their own employee long ago asking wtf you doing ? 

in fairness to the fa, iirc according to fa's data we seem to have 1 coach per 25 participants. That is the rate the english fa is trying to achieve and is well behind us

We don't have the financial muscle of other federations and if we need to be careful where we spend our bucks. If this isn't hurting us in coach participation yet it might be ok for now as sucky as the expensive fees are

if they have 3x3 basketball, can we have that handball game we played as a kid at school?

wow we beat the usa in 3v3 basketball