'Those questions need to be asked': Tony Gustavsson in the gun after Matildas disaster

The post-mortem has begun on what was an underwhelming Olympics campaign from Australia's beloved Matildas.

It started with a nightmare 3-0 loss to Germany, before a wild 6-5 win over Zambia which even the players would admit was a lucky escape, and finished with a 2-1 loss to the USA on Thursday morning.

After narrowly missing out on a podium finish at last year's World Cup, failing to make it out of the Olympics group stage has to be seen as sub-par.

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"It's really disappointing. The girls will definitely be feeling that disappointment," Matildas player Kyah Simon, who did not play in Paris, told Nine's coverage on Thursday.

"I don't know if we just didn't click as well as we normally do in these tournaments. Looking from afar, it didn't seem like we were that fluid team and as dynamic and aggressive as we usually are."

The blowtorch now turns to what went wrong and how Australia can fix it.

Head coach Tony Gustavsson is off contract and questions are being asked over his future with the team.

Simon's response to questions about Gustavsson's role will not do anything to assure the coach of his position.

"TG was on his contract for this cycle, the cycle is every four years. Like any coach your job is never secured in sport, whether you are contracted for four years or not it's always result dependent," Simon said.

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"Obviously can't speak in terms of his future within the job, but it never is helpful when you underperform as a team, and the team would feel like we've underperformed at this tournament.

"In saying that sometimes it's good shift to kick us up the bum and push us a bit further. There are good and bads out of underperforming... but we will see what the future holds."

Former Socceroos player Craig Foster was equally non-committal when speaking about Gustavsson's ongoing role with the Matildas.

While the feats at last year's World Cup were impressive, the team has often underperformed against quality opposition.

"The question is - is this particular group of players being put in a position where they can excel to the best of their capability? Certainly in this tournament you can not say yes," Foster told Stan Sport's Olympics Daily.

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"That's the most important lesson from here - it's not just that we went out, it's to say 'hang on a minute, why was Germany considerably better than us when we have all these players playing in top teams?'.

"This is a great squad... why was USA so superior to us this morning?

"The emotion is always very intense. We love the team so much, we are so proud of them, and we have to make sure that emotion is channelled into a really calm assessment - I think the work on the ball is missing. We are an unbelievable counter-attacking team, when we're allowed to use our speed we are amazing."

Following last year's World Cup, several Matildas players earned lucrative contracts at prominent European clubs.

While it was once Sam Kerr largely carrying the image of the national team, many of her teammates have grown into global superstars in their own right.

But their talents haven't necessarily made for a quality Matildas team - leaving questions marks over Gustavsson.

"What we have is this extraordinary generation who all started very young, and so have an immense amount of experience. They are all now playing with the world's top clubs," Foster said.

"The challenge we're having is the football of the other countries is evolving, and our football hasn't evolved much in the last three years.

"In terms of systems, yes, they can play football in different ways, but within the system the football has not really advanced.

"Those questions need to be asked, just calmly now, and really analyse where football is going, where the women's game is going.

"The investment means (other) countries are really accelerating, and we need to keep up with that.

"We have a generation of players who are extraordinary, we need to find a way now in the next four years... to be playing in a manner that they can legitimately take on the best in the world.

"(USA and Germany) are the top top teams, but they were considerably better than us in this tournament."

Craig Foster will appear as a football expert on Stan Sport's Olympics Daily and Paris Preview shows throughout the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.