Matildas v Chile: Aussie coach Ante Milicic looking for improvement as series heads to Adelaide
Ante Milicic doesn’t want a repeat of the nervy ‘last five or 10 minutes’ from the win over Chile in Sydney on Saturday as the Matildas look to finish the two-game series off in style in Adelaide.
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Matildas coach Ante Milicic is demanding improvement while forecasting another rugged challenge against Chile in Tuesday night’s friendly in Adelaide.
Australia banked a 2-1 win against Chile in the first of the two friendlies on Saturday in Sydney.
“We were quite pleased with the performance in Sydney, considering the circumstances, so now we need to build on that,” Milicic said.
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“We respect the opposition, we know it’s a country with a proud footballing history and they will give us a difficult game.
“But at the same time, we always believe in ourselves, we focus on ourselves and we’re confident that we will be able to put in a good performance.”
Milicic wanted improvement over the full 90 minutes in Adelaide after the Matildas controlled play in Sydney but conceded a late goal from a set piece.
“I thought we were in total control, to be honest, and maybe if we took a few chances early, we could have killed it off,” he said.
“In the end, to concede again from a set piece is disappointing. Then at times, it looks like you’re holding on in the last five to 10 minutes - it never should have got to that.
“We need to be better at that.”
Milicic was pondering changes to his starting side from the Sydney fixture, which attracted 20,029 spectators - a record crowd for a women’s international in Australia.
“Saturday’s game took a lot out of a few of them and that was a concern, to be honest, leading into the game,” he said.
“That’s Lydia Williams’ first game on Saturday since the World Cup, that was Jenna McCormick’s debut ... Emily van Egmond has just come back from her ankle injury, so we had a lot of girls who hadn’t played football for two, three months.
“How they they back up ... we will go through it with the medical staff; we will see how the girls feel. (But) I know whatever line-up we put out will be competitive.”
Originally published as Matildas v Chile: Aussie coach Ante Milicic looking for improvement as series heads to Adelaide