Alex Chidiac’s her rise to making her Matildas Asian Cup debut is a massive step forward for SA which has been dragging the chain.

Alex Chidiac won her place in the squad against all odds after Adelaide United ‘won’ the wooden spoon at the end of the 2017/18 season for the sixth time in 10 W-League campaigns.

Thailand’s Pikul Khueanpet challenges Alexandra Chidiac. Picture: Paul Kane

ALEX Chidiac’s rise to making her AFC Asian Cup debut is a massive step forward for South Australia, which has been dragging the chain for Australian women’s soccer over the past decade.

Although the 19-year-old played an important 90 minutes in the Matildas’ 8-0 victory over Vietnam at Amman Stadium on Wednesday, Chidiac won her place in the squad against all odds after Adelaide United ‘won’ the wooden spoon at the end of the 2017/18 season for the sixth time in 10 W-League campaigns.

The playmaker, however, was proud of her Matildas achievement and the fact she is the sole Australian international to stand up for SA at this tournament.

“Everything just keeps happening and any game time here is unbelievable and I’m happy and proud to be part of this team,’’ Chidiac said with an eye on winning more game time against Japan in the final Group B clash.

If Australia loses in the match against Japan it faces a premature exit from the tournament.

“It’s definitely a highlight to make my debut at this tournament and hopefully I can get some more minutes,” she said.

The chance of Chidiac taking on Japan from the start rests on Matildas coach Alen Stajcic but her intent is clear after she was not entirely happy with her performance against Vietnam.

“It was all right, it was very different to what I had been used to. There was a lot on the line in this game and, I was definitely a bit nervous,” Chidiac said.

“I was trying to get myself into the game and I’m happy with the result.

“Of course I should have done better. I just felt that lost sometimes, trying to get space to get the ball, I had to drop a little bit and I had to adapt my game to do that.

“The girls helped me out a lot and I’m just happy to get the 90 minutes.

“But we’re going out there to win against Japan we want to win the Asian Cup.

“We need to get the result.”

ALEX Chidiac’s her rise to making her AFC Asian Cup debut is a massive step forward for SA which has been dragging the chain for Australian women’s soccer over the past decade.

Although the 19-year-old played an important 90 minutes in the Matildas 8-0 win over Vietnam at Amman Stadium on Wednesday, Chidiac won her place in the squad against all odds after Adelaide United ‘won’ the wooden spoon at the end of the 2017/18 season for the sixth time in 10 W-League campaigns.

The playmaker however was proud of her Matildas achievement and the fact she is the sole Australian international to stand up for SA at this tournament.

“Everything just keeps happening and any game time here is unbelievable and I’m happy and proud to be part of this team,’’ Chidiac said with an eye on winning more game time against Japan in the final Group B clash where if Australia loses it faces a premature tournament exit.

“It’s definitely a highlight to make my debut at this tournament and hopefully I can get some more minutes.”

However the chances of Chidiac facing Japan from the start rests on Matildas coach Alen Stajcic but her intent is clear after she wasn’t entirely happy with her performance against Vietnam.

“It was all right, it was very different to what I had been used to there was a lot on the line in this game, I was definitely a bit nervous,” she said.

“I was trying to get myself into the game and I’m happy with the result.”

“Of course I should have done better I just felt that lost sometimes trying to get space to get the ball I had to drop a little bit and I had to adapt my game to do that.

“The girls helped me out a lot and I’m just happy to get the 90 minutes.

“But we’re going out there to win against Japan we want to win the Asian Cup.

“We need to get the result.”

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