Matildas ready for the tough road

The Matildas have revealed how personal challenges have helped to forge the mental toughness they need for the Olympics.

Chloe Logarzo and Alanna Kennedy have fought back from adversity Picture: Brett Costello

The Matildas have revealed how personal challenges have helped to forge the mental toughness they will call upon on the road to the Olympics.

As Ante Milicic’s side prepares to face Thailand on Monday night, seeking a win that could put them into a playoff for a place at the Tokyo Games after crushing Chinese Taipei 7-0 on Friday, senior members of the side have spoken of how various setbacks have built a team that refuses to wilt.

“All of us girls have our own stories, each one different,” says striker Chloe Logarzo.

“We’ve all gone through stuff to get to where we are now.”

Logarzo’s was a personal battle, disappointment in her career leading her down a temporarily destructive path off the field.

For others it’s been injury, or a moment of misfortune on the field. But in each case the end of the story is the most crucial part — the way the misfortune turned to mentality.

That was Alanna Kennedy’s fate when she took a penalty at the last Olympics, needing to score to keep Australia alive in a shootout against the hosts Brazil.

There were 60,000 fans in the stadium and millions watching on TV. She missed, and the Matildas were out.

“You grow from those experiences,” she says now.

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“It’s not something I over-analyse, it just happened to be me and I missed on the day. But these things happen to the best players in the world.

“What I remember most is the unity of the team, having everyone support me during that time.

“It was hard, knowing I’d let the team down in a sense. But luckily for me, I had a game at my club straight after and my focus shifted back to club football. Hopefully we won’t put ourselves in that position again, but if we are, I’ll be ready to take another.”

Logarzo has written a brave personal account of how her reaction to being dropped from the Asian Cup squad in 2015, aged just 18, was to party in America, putting her career in the balance as she went “right off the rails”.

With the guidance of Newcastle Jets W-League coach Craig Deans among others, Logarzo realised what was at stake and fought her way back to the top.

“If you don’t have that mental toughness to fight through anything, you’ll fall off the podium,” she said.

Victory for the Matildas would more or less assure them of a place in the final round of play-offs against either Vietnam or South Korea.

The Matildas would then need only a draw against the Chinese in the final group game on Thursday to avoid a playoff with a strong South Korea team.

Key midfielder Emily van Egmond urged her teammates to continue being ruthless, but also remain vigilant in limiting their opposition’s chances to score.

“We definitely want to continue to have that trait, being ruthless, especially in front of goal. But another pleasing aspect was we kept a clean sheet (against Chinese Taipei),” she said.

“I think that’s also a talking point, and a real main focus for us in this campaign ... not to concede goals.”

Van Egmond was impressive against Chinese Taipei, setting up three goals.

She was substituted at halftime to ease her workload.

“I think we’ve been going to the games recently and really trying to execute the game plan, which is super pleasing,” she said.

The Daily Telegraph, AAP