In a pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Sermanni said his players were โcompletely focused on the gameโ amid backlash over Triple M radio host Marty Sheargoldโs comments about the Matildas on Monday, which led to him parting ways with the station.
During his show on Monday, Sheargold said he would rather โhammer a nail through the head of my penis than watchโ womenโs soccer, before asking: โGot any menโs sport?โ
Sermanni joined a chorus of others, including federal minister for sport Anika Wells, in condemning Sheargoldโs comments as โcompletely unnecessary and generally outrageousโ.
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โAs sporting teams, weโre used to criticisms,โ Sermanni said, โbut sometimes the comments cross the line and that one certainly did cross the line.
โIt was firstly completely unnecessary and generally outrageous. And you know, itโs something that just from a behavioural perspective is really, very, very disappointing.
โOur team is obviously a very high-profile team, and being a very high-profile team you do take criticism, and you do create criticism sometimes very near the edge. But sometimes that just goes over the edge, and those comments did that.โ
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