By Andrew Warshaw
April 20 – Australia’s national women’s team coach Hesterine de Reus has been sacked less than a month before the country’s defence of the AFC Women’s’ Asian Cup. Football Federation Australia announced the decision following an internal review into the Dutch woman’s methods.
“After a review by FFA it was determined that a change in coaches was in best interests of the Matildas programme,” FFA chief executive David Gallop said in a statement.
Earlier this month Gallop said the FFA would look into “concerning reports” that de Reus had faced a players’ revolt over her strict disciplinary line. Sydney FC’s Alen Stajcic has been appointed as her replacement for the Asian Cup in Vietnam next month. A statement on the FFA website said there would then be a “comprehensive review” of the situation.
De Reus’ removal follows weeks of rumours about squad discontent and division, according to local reports. When the Matildas played a double header against Brazil earlier this month, headlines were all about a rift in the camp.
De Reus was handed the job after Tom Sermanni, who revolutionised the women’s game in Australia, was headhunted by the United States. Ironically he was fired after only 15 months in his new job and only a few days before de Reus was axed.
A veteran of the women’s game, De Reus was the first female coach of the Matildas having played and coached for years in Europe. Although she has been replaced on an interim basis by Stajcic there are inevitably suggestions that Sermanni will be back for a third spell.
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