“Wake-up call”: Matildas’ Olympics campaign off to a nightmare start

The Paris 2024 Olympics campaign of the Australian women’s football team has got off to a nightmare start.

The Matildas were beaten 3-0 by Germany in their Group B opener in Marseille, a result that has put Tony Gustavsson’s side on the back foot in their quest for a medal.

Germany opened the scoring in the 24th minute through Marina Hegering before Lea Schüller and Jule Brand added second and third goals in the 64th and 68th minutes respectively.

It didn’t start well for the ‘Tillies’ who were forced to make a late change hours before kick-off with an injured Tameka Yallop making way for Sharn Freier who made her Olympic debut.

Matildas captain Steph Catley admitted it was a poor performance, but did take some solace in the fact they still have two more group games to correct things.

“It’s definitely a wake-up call,” Catley said on Channel 9.

“That’s tournament football. We’ve got two more games and we’ve got to turn it around quickly.

“We’ve got a lot to learn from here. I think at times we were well on top and we let two set pieces affect the game in a very negative way.

“We just need to be better.”

The Matildas will next face Zambia in Nice on Monday, July 29 at 3am in a must-win match.

Their third fixture against the USA is back in Marseille on August 1 from 3am.