There’s just one more friendly game for the Matildas before things turn serious. A warm-up match against Vietnam at Sydney’s Kogarah Oval on Thursday doubles as the team’s farewell match before a 23-storng squad heads to Canada for the FIFA World Cup.
Lynch-pin midfielder Kyah Simon is one of two Vice Captains and the first Indigenous player to score for Australia.
She told SBS the match against Vietnam will be special.
“We'd really love to see our family and friends there supporting us as we head off to the biggest tournament of our footballing careers”
The first match at the tournament in Canada is against the world’s second ranked nation, the US, on June 10th. Games against Nigeria and Sweden will follow.
Matildas Co-Captain Lisa De Vanna is competing in her third World Cup campaign and wants to add that trophy to the team’s Asian Cup triumph.
The 30-year-old goal-scorer old told SBS she doesn’t care which player comes up with the goods.
“Obviously I like to perform well, but the feeling of winning will always overshadow how I perform,” she said.
And that kind of team spirit built up over almost six months of hard work which has seen the team sacrifice all the home comforts could be the difference between winning the trophy, and coming home empty handed.
And if football’s version of the holy grail is on the team’s plane from Canada after the final is played in Vancouver on July 6, co-Captain Clare Polkinghorne told SBS it will be a reward for everyone involved in women’s football in Australia.
“It would be a testament to all the hard work that spans back over five, ten, 15 years.”
#GoMatildas
For the first time in Australian TV history SBS will broadcast the entire 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, on SBS One, SBS HD and online - including all Matildas matches
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