Directionless Matildas risk being left behind as Asian Cup rivals accelerate | Joey Lynch

Australia are paying the price for a delay in naming a new head coach with the 2026 continental showpiece on home soil now just a year away

Earlier this year, newly unveiled Japan coach Nils Nielsen observed that “if football was played only in the space between the two penalty areas,” his side might be the most successful team in football history. Alas, football doesn’t end 18 yards from each goal. For the Dane, the first foreigner put in charge of Nadeshiko Japan and tasked with breaking a cycle that had seen them fail to progress beyond the quarter-finals of a World Cup or Olympics since 2015, instilling a ruthless edge within his new side loomed large.

Flash forward to now and Nielsen probably couldn’t have hoped for a better start to his tenure than the recently completed SheBelieves Cup. Japan not only won all three of their games but already showed signs of promise on the priorities their coach had identified. Inevitably, one tournament does not a tenure make, but Nadeshiko mercilessly took the lead in the sixth minute in their opening thrashing of Australia, before following that up with go-ahead goals after just 18 seconds against Colombia and 109 seconds when facing the United States. Despite playing three games in seven days against three nations known for their physicality, Japan maintained a high level of intensity and competitiveness too, capping things off with a hard-fought win over the reigning Olympic champions.