Twenty-three of Australia’s brightest teenage female footballers will gather in Canberra next week for a four-day Westfield Young Matildas camp.
In October the Westfield Young Matildas will travel to China to compete in the AFC U19 Women’s Championship where they will face Japan, Korea Republic and Vietnam (Group B) in Nanjing.
The AFC U19 Women’s Championship is a crucial competition for Australia given the top three teams in the tournament will advance to the 2018 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in France as Asia’s representatives.
Westfield Young Matildas Head Coach Gary van Egmond has selected a squad with a high level of Westfield W-League experience – players including Alex Chidiac, Princess Ibini, Grace Maher, Remy Siemsen and Kaitlyn Torpey have already represented their clubs regularly on the national stage.
Indeed, Chidiac and Ibini – the younger sister of former Hyundai A-League star Bernie Ibini – were also part of the Westfield Matildas’ squad in the United States in July as Alen Stajcic’s team won the inaugural Tournament of Nations.
During next week’s intense four-day camp at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) the Westfield Young Matildas will conduct a range of training and video sessions to help them prepare for the challenges that await in China.
“It has been 12 years since this age group qualified for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup so we are really looking forward to the training camps as we seek to develop the girls for China,” van Egmond said.
“We see this as the start of the next stage of preparation for the girls in regards to qualification for France next year.”
“We will have three training camps in September and one in October before leaving for China on October 10. That’s a lot of time to prepare the squad, and competition for places will be fierce.
"Ellie (Carpenter) is not going to come into this first camp due to her commitments with the (Westfield) Matildas, though Alex (Chidiac) and Princess (Ibini) will be in camp.”
“There are also players who will miss out on the early camps due to involvement with the Junior Matildas in Thailand, so it’s important that in each camp the players that are involved put their best foot forward,” he said.
Young Matildas Squad for AIS Training Camp (12-15 September 2017)
Name |
Ayana AOYAGI (GK) |
Hannah BOURKE |
Ashlee BRODIGAN |
Alex CHIDIAC |
Nicoletta FLANNERY |
Evelyn GOLDSMITH (GK) |
Beth GORDON |
Ally GREEN |
Emily HODGSON |
Princess IBINI |
Rachel LOWE |
Grace MAHER |
Annabel MARTIN |
Jada MATHYSSEN-WHYMAN |
Kobie FERGUSON |
Cortnee VINE |
Clare WHEELER |
Melina AYRES |
Susan PHONSONGKHAM |
Georgia PLESSAS |
Hayley RICHMOND |
Remy SIEMSEN |
Kaitlyn TORPEY |