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Ellie Carpenter leads the Matildas out for the first of two friendlies against Mexico, with the first to kick-off at 7.15pm in Newcastle tonight. Follow all the action.
“To be honest, I haven’t had any discussions about her future – that’s the truth,” Montemurro tells the pre-game broadcast. “I think Sam will work out what’s going to be important for her continuity leading into the World Cup, and she’ll pick a club that’ll keep her standards very very high, I’m sure.
”“It’s very open in midfield, it’ll be quite long in terms of the way Mexico’s midfield is set up. They push on their No.10 very very high and play with a top four. There’s going to be a lot of space to cover in the middle of the park. For us it’s very important that there’s a collective defending, making sure they can’t play through, and it’s going to be really important in wide areas.
If we can defend in wide areas, it’s really going to help us. ”, Hayley Raso sunk to the grass, sat with her hands behind her back, closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. In her 14 years as a Matilda she’d competed in three World Cups, two Olympic Games and three Asian Cups and yet this game at Accor Stadium in March was as close as her team had got to winning any piece of silverware.
Instead, after making it to the final of a second home tournament in three years, they fell short, Back to take on Mexico with the Matildas on Saturday in Newcastle, her first match on home soil since that final defeat, Raso’s goals for the future have only been fortified. When asked what she wants to achieve before retiring, the 31-year-old says: “to win something.
” “I feel like I had the goal when I first came into the Matildas to go to a World Cup, to go to an Olympics, and I’ve ticked those things off, not only been to a World Cup, been to a few World Cups but also played in one in Australia,” Raso said. Ellie will mark her 100th international cap by wearing the armband, leading what can only be described as Montemurro’s favoured line-up.
Sam Kerr leads an attack also headlined by Mary Fowler and Caitlin Foord. Steph Catley is back from injury and Mackenzie Arnold is in goal. Well, in the interests of transparency, I am not physically in Newcastle, but the chilly Southern Highlands bureau. And if we are to be fastidious, neither are the fans streaming through the gates of a sold-out McDonald Jones Stadium.
Technically, they are in Broadmeadow, a 13-minute drive from Newy proper. The estimated population of Broadmeadow is fewer than 1800. Tonight, however, it will swell to near 30,000. Why?
The Matildas are in town, of course. They are back in Australia for the first time since March’s devastating Asian Cup final loss to Japan, and keen to start a new chapter looking only ahead towards the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. They have, of course, played since then, beating Malawi and Kenya 5-0 and 2-0 respectively in April’s FIFA Series.
But Mexico, their opponent for this two-match friendly series , present a stiffer challenge. Coach Joe Montemurro has said he believes Mexico, undefeated in 15 games, are better than their world No.28 ranking suggests and offer a valuable “strategic” test for his 15th-ranked Matildas.
“They’re definitely a top 20 team,” Montemurro said during Friday’s pre-match press conference. “The league is growing, and there’s a lot of investment, so they’re a top, top team. Their ranking doesn’t mimic where I believe they should be. They’re a tidy team technically, and even structurally they’re very good. ”
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