Ever since Joe Montemurro has been Matildas boss he has spoken about his philosophy, the style of play he wants to embed in the Australian national side, and the sense of control he likes to instil in his team.
He also likes to win.
In the Women’s Asian Cup quarter finals, the Australian national team boss showed a flexibility to his approach that meant the Matildas prevailed by adapting to the circumstances in front of them – even if it was contradictory to the style that is “in my DNA”.
“Let’s be frank and honest here,” he said after the Matildas edged North Korea 2-1 in Perth to make the Women’s Asian Cup semis.
“Winning football games like that, it usually happens in tournaments.”
Turning to his captain, Sam Kerr, in the press conference, he referenced one of his key wins in European football with Juventus, against her Chelsea side, that has made him one of the most credentialed manager in world football.
“I’ve done it a few times like that in Champions League. I think there was a game against Chelsea, we got a draw.
“We got a draw. They had 450 million shots and we had one.
“We knew that they were a great side.
> “They’re the best team in the tournament. They really are. They’re great side.
“They have their reasons for the way they play and it’s very difficult and it’s very unpredictable.
“So we just had to be methodical.
> “Where we won the game, I think, were the little bits in between as we were losing the ball or as we were winning the ball to keep our shape and keep our organisation.
“We didn’t create much. We had to resist a lot. But again, it’s the way you beat these teams. You have to manage the game in a certain way and fortunate enough for us we did it.”
It was a resilient performance, but will that be enough to go all the way?
“In tournaments, you have to just take the game for what it is,” he explained.
“And we knew that they would have a lot of the ball. We knew that they, in areas they could hurt us and then the next game will be different.
> “Do I want to play a possession based game? Do I want to keep the ball? Do I want to have opportunities? It’s who I am. It’s my DNA. But part of my remit is to win football matches.
“And, and sometimes you have to have that flexibility and the players know that it’s part of adapting to the situation.
“Do we want to be better with the ball? Obviously, yeah. There’s no doubt about that. But in tournament football, unfortunately, you’ve got to sometimes play the scenario and find a way and allow the world class players like Sam and the others to do what they need to do. And they took the moments.
“At this level, it’s all about moments. It’s all about taking those moments. That’s all it is.”
The next match could pit Montemurro against a close friend and former Matildas boss Ante Milicic, if China beat Chinese Taipei in their quarter final.
Joe Montemurro. Photo: Charlotte Neal / The Women’s Game
“Ante and his coaching staff, Ivan (Jokic), we’re very good friends and we’re looking forward to hopefully meeting each other in the semifinal.
“We’ll see. They’ve got a tricky game too. It’s not an easy game against Chinese Taipei.
“Asian football, yeah, it’s my first taste and it’s definitely interesting because it’s very stop start. There isn’t continuity of European football where teams retain the ball and keep the ball and control the tempo.
“The tempo is very high, but it’s very sporadic. So you have to be very, very careful to not switch off in those dead moments.
“You don’t have any time to relax – which is something we had to adapt to. You saw it tonight. North Korea were relentless. They kept going at that same pace for 90 minutes. don’t know how they do it, but they do it. We had to manage even the dead times with a bit of caution. It was interesting.”