Strongest side to face Canadians
Matildas coach Tom Sermanni is taking no chances and will start with his most experienced line-up, when they take on Canada later this afternoon at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Matildas coach Tom Sermanni is taking no chances and will start with his most experienced line-up, when they take on Canada later this afternoon at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Missing nine outfield players that were at the 2007 FIFA Women-s World Cup in China, Sermanni will use the match to give several young players valuable international experience, but to start with Sermanni will have his so-called strongest available team to take on the highly-ranked Canadians.
“This is verging on the strongest team, of the players that are here in camp,” Sermanni said. “This is also our most experienced team, which we will need against a very good opponent in Canada.”
The Canadians, who themselves are preparing for the 2008 Olympics, will no doubt be looking for some revenge, after Australia bundled them out of last years World Cup in the third group match to make it through to the quarter finals.
With six substitutes allowed though, Sermanni is keen to give young players like dual-international Ellyse Perry and Kyah Simon some valuable game time.
“This is an ideal opportunity to play young players for the national team. They need to get game time in this environment and it will be good for them to experience playing in front of what should be a decent crowd at the Sydney Football Stadium.”
Coming of the back of two losses against the USA recently, while Sermanni wants to win the game, he is looking to keep the strong cohesiveness that has developed amongst the team.
“Results are always important, but we want to continue to make progress, especially with our less experienced players. We may have lost the two games against the US, but they only won those games in the dying minutes and we pushed them all the way, so we want to keep building the momentum.
“We have a quality game (against Canada) and I am confident the players will be able to go out there and a good job.”
Sermanni has urged all fans with tickets, to come early and catch the Matildas play and knows they will be presently surprised by what they see.
“It will be a good game, between two very good sides that like to attack. I can see a few goals in this game, although I am confident we will score one or two more. This is a big opportunity for the girls and they would love to play in front of good sized home crowd.
“After last years exploits at the World Cup they deserve it.”
The starting side is: Melissa Barbieri (gk); Clare Polkinghorne, Kate McShea, Cheryl Salisbury, Di Alagich, Joey Burgess, Lauren Colthorpe, Amy Chapman, Collette McCallum, Caitlin Munoz, Sarah Walsh
The Matildas match against Canada kicks off at 5.15pm and is followed by the Socceroos against Ghana match at 8.00pm.
Tickets for the double header are still available from Ticketek or available at the gate.
Live Match Update from both matches will be available at our website www.footballaustralia.com.au