With memories of the record-breaking Women’s World Cup fading, the Matildas are back on home soil this week for a crucial Olympic qualifying tournament in Perth, where they have already given a reminder of their pulling power. The three matches over the course of the next week – against Iran, the Philippines and Taiwan – quickly sold out the 20,000-capacity HBF Park, prompting a shift of one of the fixtures to the far larger Optus Stadium, which is now also sold out.
Matildas fever is being felt in Western Australia less than three months after the Matildas’ stellar tournament ended in defeat to Sweden in the third-place playoff, with players having travelled from their clubs – mostly in the northern hemisphere – for the second round of Asian qualifying for the 2024 Paris Games. Coach Tony Gustavsson has made it clear that improving on their fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics is the team’s next goal.
Ellie Carpenter, one of those who has travelled back to Australia from Europe where she plies her trade for Division 1 Féminine club Lyon, said it has been a whirlwind since the World Cup and she and her teammates have had little time to rest.
“You don’t really have much ... downtime, just straight into a new season,” she said on Tuesday. “You don’t really have time to reflect and stop for a second, but I think it has been incredible to see the aftermath of the World Cup and what we have done in football in Australia and for women as well.”
As the No 2 side in Asia, Australia automatically qualified for round two of qualifying along with Japan, China, South Korea and North Korea. The first round took place in April, when 26 teams were whittled down to seven. The second round sees 12 teams split into three groups of four vying for a spot in the third and final round. The winner of each group will be joined by the best-ranked runner-up in late February for final home-and-away matches with the two winners stamping their tickets to the Olympics.
The USA, Canada and Brazil have already booked their places in Paris, as well as France as the host nation. They will joined by the two Asian nations, two European, two African and one from Oceania.
Iran, the Matildas’ first opponents, are ranked 63 in the world and only played in an international tournament for the first time in 2022, but topped their group in the first round of qualifying. They are pushing to change attitudes towards women’s football and women in sport more broadly in their country, where women are not allowed to attend football matches. If they qualify against the odds for the Olympics, the IOC has ruled the players will be allowed to wear hijabs, despite France’s ban on its athletes from wearing them.
The Philippines, ranked 44th, are the most familiar opposition to most after they very nearly became the fairytale story of the World Cup as they just missed out on the last 16. They will be hoping to build on the momentum of their first World Cup win (against hosts New Zealand) and first World Cup goal, but have lost Australian Alen Stajcic who helped them get to the tournament; Mark Torcaso, formerly of Western United, has taken the former Matildas coach’s place. Sunday’s fixture was moved from HBF Park to the 60,000-capacity Optus Stadium to give more fans a chance to see Australia play.
Three-time Asian champions Taiwan await in the Matildas’ final game of the tournament next Wednesday. Once a powerhouse in women’s football but now ranked 38th, Taiwan have come up just short at recent tournaments and missed out World Cup qualification. Along with the Philippines they are likely to provide the toughest challenge for the Matildas.
Australia’s squad is largely unchanged from the group that went to the World Cup, with just Amy Sayer and Charlie Rule (train-on only) replacing Kyah Simon and Aivi Luik. Captain and Perth local Sam Kerr is back scoring goals for Chelsea after being sidelined from a calf injury, and Arsenal trio Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross have all made their mark in the WSL. In positive news for the Matildas, forwards Mary Fowler at Manchester City and Hayley Raso at Real Madrid have enjoyed considerably more game time since the World Cup.
Once this round of qualifying is over, the Matildas will again fly off to their clubs around the world until the next international window in December. Then, Australia will end their monumental year with two friendly matches in Canada against the Olympic champions on 1 and 6 December.
Olympic qualifying round two fixtures:
Australia v Iran: HBF Park – Thursday 26 October, 7pm AWST/10pm AEDT,
Philippines v Australia: Optus Stadium – Sunday 29 October, 3pm AWST/6pm AEDT
Australia v Chinese Taipei: HBF Park – Wednesday 1 November, 7pm AWST/10pm AEDT
Follow each Matildas game at the tournament with Guardian Australia’s minute-by-minute live blogs
