The last time China walked off a pitch in Adelaide, they did so with their heads slumped low, almost too embarrassed to look up and look people in the eye.
The players, the ones that did stop to talk to the media, were almost too distraught to speak.
They had just been humiliated 6-1 by a rampant English outfit at a sold-out Hindmarsh Stadium to end their FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign, the first time they had failed to make it past the group stage in their history.
So meek was their performance, they looked a mile away not only from the team that won the AFC Women’s Asian Cup just 18 months prior, but an entire galaxy away from a team that was capable of defending that same title in 2026.
Once a power of international women’s football, the Steel Roses trundled off the pitch looking like a side that had been left behind by the changing dynamics and shifting powerbase of women’s football.
But less than 12 months on from that humiliation, they depart Adelaide with vastly different emotions.
While still disappointed after conceding a late equaliser against a lacklustre Matildas outfit, they walk away with a new-found sense of belief under new coach Ante Milicic.
It was a word the players repeatedly echoed after their 1-1 draw with Australia at a sold out Adelaide Oval on Friday night, highlighting the impact the former Matildas coach has been able to have in such a short space of time.
“He has given us a confidence and belief,” star midfielder Wang Shuang told The Asian Game after the game.
“The key word he emphasised was ‘believe’. He encourages us during training and games to be brave, to be one-v-one or to dribble and show our talent.”
They were sentiments echoed by her teammate, Wurigumula, who played a crucial role in the opening goal scored by Zhang Linyan.
“He asked us to be brave, to dribble, to take the game on and be brave to make the pass forward, that’s the biggest change,” said Wurigumula, who is no stranger to Australian opposition having played for Central Coast Mariners in the recently completed A-League Women’s competition.
“Our goal (under Milicic) will be to play our football and to have our identity. We can play with more possession, we can make the passes, we can have more control. That’s what we want to achieve.”
The early signs, it has to be said, are incredibly promising.
The capacity crowd of 52,912 came expecting an exhibition from a Matildas side that was stocked full of superstars and and one that has captivated the nation, but Ante Milicic’s side had other ideas.
Their structure was sound to the point the Matildas simply couldn’t find a way to penetrate their defence in the first half.
It’s hard to remember the last time the Matildas played a game on home soil and didn’t register a single shot on goal for an entire half, but the fact they didn’t is testament to the organisation of Milicic’s side.
Wurigumula, who enjoyed a stellar season in Australia with the Mariners, was lively down the right and it was her ability to get in behind Kaitlyn Torpey that created the opportunity for the Zhang Linyan to score the opener.
China had opportunities to kill the game off in the second half, and that ruthlessness will be something Milicic looks to imbued in this side, but for a first up performance it could hardly have gone any better.
“You cant come in after seven days and make a whole lot of changes and get across the playing style,” he reflected post-game.
“This is where we’ve started, but I know where I want it to get to. I was just proud of them that they did try to play. They kept a bit more possession than what they’ve had in the past, their passing accuracy was decent.
“So there’s a couple of little markers there for us to look forward to.”
The first few weeks have been a real baptism of fire for Milicic, who had limited time to even get to know the players names before naming a squad for these back-to-back matches with Australia.
“Being perfectly honest, the first couple of weeks I was on the laptop pretty much all day just identifying plays and selecting a squad for these two games,” he explained earlier this week.
“Then you after that it’s linking in real life the names with the players with the positions and what they do at their club. And then also how can we bring that to life as a team in a short space of time.
“So we’ve been working on that. Wu Haiyan just mentioned that we had the individual meetings as well as a starting point, we did that as soon as we could in camp.
“So I’m just building small steps at this stage and just making sure that we’ve got a strong platform to build on moving forward.”
On the evidence of their performance Friday night, Milicic, his squad and the entire nation has every reason to believe.
Listen to The Asian Game Podcast as we talk with Australia’s Clare Polkinghorne and Chinese midfielder Shen Mengyu
