Australia’s hopes of World Cup glory on home soil rest upon five Matildas standouts
Australia’s win rate more than doubled after the return of a key player not named Sam Kerr. Anything is possible in our home World Cup if these five Matildas fire, writes ADAM PEACOCK.
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All of a sudden, 30 quick sleeps and the Matildas’ Cathy Freeman moment is here.
World Cup opening night on July 20 at Sydney’s Stadium Australia will be full of nervous energy, just like 23 years ago when Freeman shivered through an Olympic opening ceremony as the cauldron got stuck, then lit a flame in the nation’s heart 10 nights later by burning around the track for gold.
The Matildas have the chance to do that over seven possible fixtures, starting with Ireland in a month.
The preparation begins in earnest this week with a camp on the Gold Coast, before shifting to Melbourne, where the current squad of 29 will be trimmed to the final 23.
Coach Tony Gustavsson has some tough choices to make for those on the cusp, but five players stand out in terms of importance to Australia’s tournament hopes.
If they fire, this World Cup could turn into anything for the Matildas.
Sam Kerr
Australia’s most famous footballer, with her image plastered on billboards and her name on the back of Matildas kits across the land, Kerr will be the face of the World Cup.
Even though it’s a little in contrast to her introverted nature, her popularity is down to one reason.
Kerr can’t stop scoring. And when she does, the trademark backflips round off the feeling of watching a special event. She has scored 21 goals since the start of 2021 for the Matildas, and an extraordinary 89 goals in three seasons across all competitions for English giant Chelsea.
Kerr’s constant threat, created out of instinctual movement, will cause problems no matter if the Matildas are dominating possession or forced into a counter-attacking style.
And happily, Kerr gets to the World Cup in one piece.
Gustavsson and Football Australia copped some grief for the 7-0 shellacking that Spain handed out last winter, when Kerr and other big names were rested; but retrospectively, that turned out to be a masterstroke.
Caitlin Foord
Foord’s first ever World Cup match, in 2011, was a portent of things to come. She marked Brazilian legend Marta, at age 16, and did not blink once.
Which, for those who know Foord, was no real surprise seeing she grew up playing footy against the boys on the South Coast of NSW, making the odd one cry.
Despite injury niggles, Foord has returned to an elite level in the past 12 months. Her true value to the Matildas was highlighted in recent home friendly wins over Sweden and Spain, when used in a second striker role next to Kerr. Their understanding is that of two from the same womb.
Should Gustavsson elect to use the searing pace of Courtnee Vine and Hayley Raso on each flank, which looks the Matildas’ most dangerous formation offensively, then Foord and Kerr’s combination through the middle has every chance of causing havoc.
Ellie Carpenter
The painstaking rehab from an ACL injury picked up in the 2022 Champions League final over, Carpenter should be back to near top capacity for her second crack at a World Cup.
Eleven games at club level with Lyon is about the right amount to ensure she won’t go into the tournament underdone.
Early in Gustavsson’s tenure, Carpenter was being used as a centre-back, but it was like watching a Ferrari being driven with the handbrake on. Her return to right-back for the Brazil friendlies in September 2021 coincided with the Matildas’ best two performances of that year, aside from the fighting 4-3 win over Great Britain at the Olympics.
Steph Catley
Catley has also had injury worries in the past 12 months, missing the games against Scotland and England in April with a foot problem.
Her inclusion is equal in importance to Carpenter’s, though for a slightly different reason: Catley can also play left centre-back. Should anything go amiss with Australia’s first-choice pairing, Clare Hunt and Clare Polkinghorne, or if the unlucky Alanna Kennedy isn’t quite fit, Catley can be deployed there and be ever-calm on the ball.
Charlie Grant’s immense improvement in the past 18 months means that having to use Catley centrally isn’t the worst outcome. As long as the Arsenal defender is out there, the Matildas are a better side.
Katrina Gorry
While Kerr, Foord, Carpenter and Catley are at bigger European clubs, Gorry’s value in her deep-lying midfield role is defined by a set of simple numbers.
While Sweden-based Gorry was away welcoming daughter Harper into the world, across 2021 and the 2022 Asian Cup, the Matildas’ win rate over 20 games was just 30 per cent.
Following her return in April 2022, after which she started in 15 consecutive matches, Australia’s win rate skyrocketed to 66 per cent.
There have been just four losses in that time. A 7-0 smashing by Spain, when Kerr, Foord, Catley, Carpenter and other senior players were rested. Two tight losses to potential World Cup group spoilsports Canada, and a shock defeat to Scotland, again without Kerr, Foord and Catley.
Gorry, with her exquisite technique, gives the Matildas the control they crave in chaotic moments. And her inclusion allows greater freedom to other options in midfield, such as youngsters Kyra Cooney-Cross and Mary Fowler, or fellow veteran Emily van Egmond.
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The past two years have been disjointed for the Matildas, with Gustavsson forced to use 45 players. Some selections were forced by injury and others were the product of curiosity, to measure capabilities at international level.
But what is left on the cusp of the World Cup is an undeniable fact. Kerr, Foord, Catley, Carpenter and Gorry are all so important to the Matildas. Only once since 2021 have they all started the same game, a 3-1 win over New Zealand last year, in a scoreline which greatly flattered Australia’s World Cup co-host.
For the next month, Gustavsson and his coaching crew will sift through every minuscule detail in search of an extra advantage.
Most of the answers exist in the simplest of coaching maxims: keep your best players fit, and the rest tends to fall into place.
Australia’s possible World Cup starting XI
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