As the home 2023 Women’s World Cup looms large, the Matildas will take on Jamaica, Czechia and Spain in the Cup of Nations tournament that begins on Thursday at Industree Group Stadium in Gosford. The competition – featuring three double-headers – will also see games hosted at Sydney’s CommBank Stadium and McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle.
Speaking at today’s launch in Sydney, Matildas head coach Tony Gustavsson stressed the importance of getting his squad together for three crucial hit-outs on home soil in a tournament-like setting.
“Every opening game in a tournament is important because it kind of sets the tone for the tournament,” the Swede said.
“We handle this game against Czechia in the same way as if it was Ireland (the Matildas’ opening opponents in the World Cup). Everything we do now is like a World Cup rehearsal. It doesn’t mean the focus is only on winning in that sense, but we need to train the tournament format.”
Playing three games over six days is a double-edged sword: it’ll allow for Gustavsson to give more players important minutes on the park, but it also means that some players have only arrived in the country in the last 24 hours or so and are unlikely to feature tomorrow night on the Central Coast.
There’s only so much that can be accomplished in a single international window, but Gustavsson will be hoping for a mix of good results and good performances to kick-start Australia’s preparations for a huge home World Cup in five months’ time.
“This is a challenge and that means I need to plan a little bit differently than I normally do going into a tournament like this,” he said.
“We want to perform as good as we can but we want to have continuity and a consistent line-up, but also we need to be mindful of the minutes for players.”
Spain coach Jorge Vilda, replying to a query from Samantha Lewis regarding the 15 Spanish players who made themselves unavailable for national team selection last September in a “mutiny”, accused Lewis of being “disrespectful” and refused to engage with the subject.
It means Spain bring an understrength squad down under for the Cup of Nations, and it seems unlikely the dispute will be resolved before their World Cup campaign gets underway in late July.
However, despite the off-field drama Spain are in good form, conceding just once in their last four games and going unbeaten in that stretch.
The Cup of Nations begins tomorrow with a clash between Spain and Jamaica at Industree Group Stadium, followed by Australia facing off against Czechia in the evening game at the same venue.
Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images
