“I don’t really know what went wrong,” she said. “I like to move on quickly because I can’t dwell on it too much.”
Football Australia has still not appointed a permanent replacement or signalled when they intend to do so, with the federation happy to leave Tom Sermanni in charge on an interim basis. Sermanni was the coach who gave Foord her international debut as a 16-year-old in 2011, and she believes his warm, familiar presence will help get the Matildas feeling good about themselves again.
Blast from the past: Then-Matildas coach Tom Sermanni in 2011 with a 16-year-old Caitlin Foord.Credit: Brendan Esposito
“I think for us just to have a good environment, a positive environment … as we all know, it was, I guess, quite a negative one from the Olympics not going the way we wanted to,” she said.
“Just to get back to that Matildas fun, positive football feeling and hopefully, two good results off the back of that, will help us moving forward as well.
“Tommy obviously knows our roots from the start and knows what this team’s about. I think he’ll bring that back into the team. As we’ve seen from the past with him as well, he’s got an eye for, you know, the youth coming through.
“I know he’s been watching us since he left. He’s been on the journey with us, but just from a different view, so I’m excited to see what he’s seen when he’s been out and what he now brings to the team.”
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But the reality is the Matildas can’t truly move forward until a head coach is employed, and that person decides which way forward actually is and what that looks like for players. Foord would prefer for that to happen sooner rather than later.
“At the same time, I don’t really want to rush into anything,” she said. “And I guess we have the time now to be able to find the right person for the job. As of now, Tommy’s in, and I’m really happy with that. I know a lot of the girls are as well. So as long as it needs to take … when the time’s right, it will happen.”
Foord is aware of conversations between FA and the team’s senior leaders about what they would like to see from the new regime, and expects more to take place in the weeks ahead. Because she is not part of the team’s leadership group, she has not been directly involved in them; even if she had been, she probably wouldn’t have much to offer.
“I don’t have any names or anything like that,” she said.
“If I did, I would be in a toss-up: do I want them for my national team or my [club] at the moment? There’s plenty out there. It’s just the right fit for both.”
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