Matildas Magic Moments.

The DPR Koreans are nobs of the highest order. When the Matildas gained a penalty at the end of the first half, the Koreans walked to the sideline on masse and delayed the game for a further five or more. Each one starting with the Keeper should have been booked. Why weren't they?

Or the penalty be taken without a keeper. AFC should do them, but this was good practice for Australia as we may have to play them in the AFC third place play-off for the World Cup and it will be game on then...and all the Aussie games are live on ABC in May. Bravo!



A great bit of interplay between Kyah Simon, Kate Gill and Collette MaCallum saw Simon released (almost) in the final moment of the Matildas North Korea game. Simon had more than a bit to do.

She did it and scored a wonderful team and individual goal to defeat DPR Korea 3-2 and send the Aussies off to the World Cup qualifiers in May, a la the Asian Cup, in good spirits.

A new formation, 1-4-3-3 it looked to me anyway, and a new result, against Korea.

Korea were recently beaten 3-0 by Germany so they may not be the power they once were.

Last time we played them, for Olympic qualification we were soundly beaten, outclassed, even at home 2-0.

At times the Koreans did it nicely and they still have some dynamic players, but they are young, so young. This much younger Korea team seemed to struggle against the Aussies to control the ball, and game compared to previous Olympic qualifiers.

Australia it seems with Kylie Ledbrook, Claire Polkingthorne, Lauren Colthorpe, Elise Kellond-Knight perhaps offering an improved technical performance from the Matildas. Time will tell. But with Tameka Butt, Heather Garriock, Sally Shipard, and Kyah Simon adding much either in this game, or in future games that World Cup qualification spot does not seem out of reach for the Green and Gold.

Has the W-League improved the technical play of our plays. From this performance I'd say it has.

That said Korea with their 24/7 football system still have a technical edge and maybe they are keeping a few of the older stars up their sleeve. Who knows.

Lisa De Vanna was herself, Sarah Walsh played wide and wonderful early on, but the whole team seemed to struggle once their engines dropped.

Indeed Kate Gills poor challenge prior to the goal showed the importance of defending from the front. Particularly in a 1-4-3-3 system. Allowing the defender to drift passed her resulted eventually in Kim Carroll and Thea Slatyer being sorely exposed with further defensive errors. The Korean striker finished nicely but there were many many errors from the Matildas along the way.

Melissa Barbieri had a confident game, and this is good to see.

And it seemed to me that with an improved short passing performance from the Matildas players, Australia would have walked this game. How many times when we looked so good, so comfortable on the ball did we not make that simple pass? Hundreds.

We did pass well despite my latter comment and the final goal proved it.

We have the talent, the movement but can we improve our passing? If we can we'll qualify for the World Cup for sure.

Come on the Matildas!

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Heather Garriock: My priority is the National Women's League

Heather Garriock just back from the Peace Cup in Korea is looking forward to the start of the National Women's League as well as a hectic month with the Matildas in July.

" The National League is the number one priority for me. I really want to part of the very first National League. It's important all the big players play and maybe I'll look at playing professional again overseas come next year." said Garriock
from Sydney today.

Heather talks Peace Cup, Asia Cup, Kyah Simon, Matildas plans and more...

"The results (at the Peace Cup) were outstanding particularly given we had the harder group out of the two. We strung together some really good passes and passages of play unlike the Asia Cup. The results were a great reflection on the way we played.

"The difference between the Asia Cup and the Peace Cup, I think the team started to gel together as a unit. It's not always easy when you come into a competition and the team hasn't been together.

"We got a roll on and there was some good football played at the Peace Cup. It was unlucky we conceded a goal in the last fifteen minutes of the American game or else it would be us in the final.

Australia has played the No. 1 ranked USA three times in recent months and each time they have been beaten by an odd goal.

"We're a tough team to play and that's how they feel, I think they have respect for us now, as they should, given our results have been fantastic. We scored about eight goals against them in the last few matches.

"I don't want to make excuses but the heat (in the Asia Cup) did have a lot to do with it. Obviously the other teams had the heat as well. The Asian nations are always much better technically rather than the Americans or Italy. We were very defensively disciplined in the last three matches, which Tommy (Sermanni) made it clear to us that's what he wanted.

"I think all the young players caught my eye, it's difficult to come into the National side and step up. Definitely Ellyse Perry and Kyah Symon. Kyah scored the last goal against Brazil, she's only sixteen years old, she had no expectations on herself and she killed it, she really did, same with Ellyse, same with the other youngsters but those two really caught my eye.

"We tour to China in twelve days, then play New Zealnd at home in Sydney on July 12th and then play fly to Japan for a one-off game later on in the month. Then come August we'll prepare hopefully for the start of the National League. We're not going to the Olympics but we've still got quite a lot on." said Garriock.

Garriock who plays in Denmark but is not expected to head overseas until next year.

"The National League is the number one priority for me. I really want to part of the very first National League. It's important all the big players play and maybe I'll look at playing professional again overseas come next year." said Garriock
from Sydney today.

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Matildas 0 Canada 0

Matildas Coach Tom Sermanni was delighted with the performances of his young players in the 0-0 draw with Canada on Tuesday in a game played behind closed doors.


"We have nine of the eighteen outfield World Cup players not in this team. So Ellyse Perry 17, Kyah Symon 16, Jenna Tristram 21 Ella Mastrantinou 16, all played and did fantastically well.

"Only Lydia Williams, Kate McShea and Di Alagich from the World Cup squad played most of the game.

"These games are a great chance for the young players coming through. We'll have Lisa De Vanna, Heather Garriock and Kate Gill back for the Asia Cup, but for now the youngsters have a great chance to play."

The Matildas got to meet the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Tuesday. The PM spent 45 minutes at the training ground mingling with the Matildas and Socceroos, discussing the World Cup bid.

The PM left before the Matildas Canada game.

Matildas take on Canada on Friday before flying out on Saturday to Vietnam for the Asia Cup.

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Canberrans off to Asia Cup

Amy Chapman and Lydia Williams are in the squad to play their first full Matildas International tournament at next months Asia Cup in Vietnam. They will also play in the double header Socceroos/ Ghana. Matildas/Canada on May 23rd at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Canberra's experienced Matilda Caitlin Munoz is in line to play providing she fully recovers from her recent mysterious strains. But Sally Shipard has missed out due to injury.

Cricketing superstar Ellyse Perry has been called into her first Matildas squad and Kyah Simon the talented Indigenous striker looks like she's cemented her place in the full squad after an eye-catching tour of USA.

And you can hear an interview with Elyse Perry on the Nearpost radio this week, or here on the blog tomorrow.

FFA Release below.

MATILDAS SQUAD TO TACKLE ASIA'S FINEST ANNOUNCED


The Australian women's football team, the Matildas, will be aiming to become the first Australian team to be crowned Asian champions when they compete at the 2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, later this month.

"This tournament will really test the depth and experience of the squad with a number of players going into a major tournament for the first time," said coach, Tom Sermanni.
"We have lost a fair bit of experience since the World Cup with some players unavailable for a variety of reasons and the squad is reasonably different to what we had in China at the World Cup."

"However there is a genuine belief amongst the squad that we can match any opponent and that was reinforced with the team's performances against the USA recently."

The 20 woman squad is led by long-serving captain Cheryl Salisbury, and includes Heather Garriock, Melissa Barbieri, Di Alagich, Asian Women’s player of the Year runner-up Collette McCallum, Sarah Walsh and Lisa De Vanna amongst the key players from the team that participated last year in the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Australia will be missing several mainstays from that team, with Joanne Peters and Sally Shipard both absent through injury, and Thea Slatyer and Alicia Ferguson unavailable.

Sermanni has also included two teenagers from last year's Young Matildas - Ellyse Perry and Kyah Simon.

Perry last year achieved the remarkable double of becoming a dual football and cricket international at the age of just 16. The Sydney-based defender scored for the Matildas in the second minute of her debut last August just a fortnight after becoming the youngest ever cricket player for Australia.
Indigenous striker Kyah Simon made her debut for the Matildas in the same match as Perry and featured in both recent matches against world number one USA. The 16 year old is also a team mate of Perry's in the NSW Institute of Sport squad.

Prior to jetting out for Vietnam, the Matildas will face world number nine Canada as part of a double-header at the Sydney Football Stadium on May 23 preceding the Qantas Socceroos match against African powerhouse Ghana.
The two sides last met in the Women's World Cup when the Matildas snatched an injury time equaliser to eliminate Canada from the tournament and reach the quarter finals for the first time.
"We want to go into every match and tournament looking to win and not just being there to make up the numbers," Sermanni said.

"Despite the absentees we will be looking to build further on our World Cup showing and also go one better than we did at the Women's Asian Cup two years ago when we lost the final on penalties.

"This is our most important tournament for the year and the team will be looking to bounce back after the disappointment of not qualifying for the Olympics."

The three overseas based players - Heather Garriock (Fortuna Hjorring, Denmark), Kate Gill and Lisa De Vanna (both Linkopings, Sweden) - will join the squad in Vietnam.

Australia will open their AFC Women’s Asian Cup campaign against Chinese Taipei on Thursday 29 May, followed by the match against Korea Republic on Saturday 31 May before the final group match against Japan on Monday 2 June.



The Matildas squad for the 2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup is:

Goalkeepers – Melissa Barbieri (Melbourne), Lydia Williams (Canberra)
Defenders – Di Alagich (Sydney), Kim Carroll (Brisbane), Kate McShea (Brisbane), Ellyse Perry (Sydney), Clare Polkinghorne (Brisbane), Karla Reuter (Brisbane), Cheryl Salisbury (Newcastle)
Midfielders – Joanne Burgess (Brisbane), Amy Chapman (Canberra), Lauren Colthorpe (Brisbane), Heather Garriock (Sydney), Collette McCallum (Perth), Amber Neilson (Newcastle)

Forwards – Lisa DeVanna (Perth), Kate Gill (Newcastle), Caitlin Munoz (Canberra), Kyah Simon (Sydney), Sarah Walsh (Sydney)
(current home city)


Matildas v Canada
Sydney Football Stadium, 5.15pm
(Followed by Qantas Socceroos v Ghana, 8pm)

2008 Women's Asian Cup
28 May - June 8, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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Matildas ready to take on USA

Canberra's Lydia Williams stars in US defeat.

Australian Coach Tom Sermanni was in good spirits ahead of the Matildas second game against the USA tomorrow in Birmingham, Alabama.


Despite an under prepared Matildas side the team were narrowly defeated 3-2 in the final minute in Monday's first international.

"We should have most of the team back on deck for selection this weekend, so touch wood we've got another session tomorrow, we'll be okay." said Sermanni

"We're still a bit behind in comparison to the US at this stage. We're still a bit behind in practice, they've had three major tournaments this year, and that showed the other night. We did well to keep in touch and get back into the game.

Canberran stars
"We said when we were going on this trip that we'd play the goalkeepers game about, Lydia (Williams) has really kicked on in the last six or seven months and we really need to give her opportunities in these kind of games, to test her out, and she had an exceptionally good game.

Star striker Lisa De Vanna is not on this trip she "has a Sweden contract so we are looking at potentially getting her back for the Asia Cup and we were never going to bring her back for this trip." added Sermanni.

"Surin Kuralya and also Leah Blayney joined us on Monday. They are two players that have been playing in College over here, so when we came over it's an ideal opportunity to bring them back in to the system and have a look at them again and see where they are at.

"Any team that loses two strikers is going to be a bit short upfront, which is one of the reasons why we brought Kyah (Simon)into the squad. Not only is she starting to improve, but she also has the physical qualities to enable her to play and cope against the US. We started her and considering it was her first major international she did really well.

Injury update for tomorrow's game:
"Joey Peters is unlikely to be considered, she still has a niggling knee injury, Di Alagich will probably be in for selection and Caitlin (Munoz) we'll see how she goes tomorrow at training.

Asian Cup Preparations.

On the forthcoming Asia Cup Sermanni said, "We're probably a bit underdone. We've got these two games and then the two game against Canada. We're not in the same zone as we were for the World Cup. We'll have decent preparation (for the Asia Cup). We'll come into the Canada game around the 18th May, and have four or five games before we play our first game.

In relation to the kind of preparation that we normally get, that's not to bad."

And on Heather Garriock and her dash for the Danish Cup Final?

"Heather got injured in Monday's game, so we took her off. She didn't make the trip back to Denmark, but her team won 4-0 in the Cup Final without her. She'll play tomorrow. It takes a lot for Heather to miss a game."

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HSC Matilda off to America

But the books away, Kyah's off to America.

Meet the New Matilda: Indigenous Australian Kyah Simon .

"It would be the biggest surprise in the world to me, if I made that plane to America, " said HSC Student Kyah Simon at the Matildas recent camp.

Well she did it. And you can hear our new Matilda on the Nearpost Radio show this week. Tuesday 6.30pm or here on the podcast on Wednesday.

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Amy Chapman makes the Maildas, but no De Vanna

Amy Chapman is on the Matildas plane to the USA. Kyah Simon also. Kim Carroll is back in the squad after missing out on a World Cup place last year. Interestingly no Lisa De Vanna, and no mention of her.

Full squad and games below.

MATILDAS SQUAD NAMED TO TACKLE WORLD NUMBER ONE

TEENAGE STRIKER SELECTED


Matildas coach Tom Sermanni has named a number of young players including teenage Indigenous striker Kyah Simon in his squad that will meet world number one United States in their two match series later this month.

The 20-strong list also features 15 members of the squad that reached the quarter finals at last year's FIFA Women's World Cup in China.

Simon, who hails from Sydney's west, has made rapid progress through the ranks of the Australian U-17 team early in 2007, to the Young Matildas (u-20) before making her only appearance for the senior team in an Olympic qualifier against Hong Kong last August.

The other players with an opportunity to impress are Canberra's Amy Chapman and Novocastrian Amber Neilson, with defenders Karla Reuter and Kim Carroll completing the list of those who missed the World Cup.

"There are five changes from our World Cup squad for this tour so to some degree we are rebuilding the depth across the squad," says Sermanni.

"This is another opportunity for some of the fringe players of the last few years to cement their place in the team. It is important that we continually improve and refine our play whilst at the same time continue to build towards our next World Cup campaign."

"Kyah is a promising talent who has come into recent camps and basically got herself selected with her displays. She has a great ability to unsettle defences and also possesses a natural football ability and game awareness."

Midfielder Heather Garriock currently playing professionally with Danish club Fortuna Hjorring, will be looking to become the youngest Australian to reach 100 caps in the first match against the United States. The 25-year-old Sydneysider set to join the century club alongside team-mates Cheryl Salisbury and Joanne Peters, as well as retired defender Anissa Tann.

The Australian team will face up to the perennial superpower of women's football, and current Olympic champions on April 27 in Cary, North Carolina, and May 3 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Australia are yet to defeat the United States in 18 encounters losing 16 of those matches, however there have been two draws in the last three meetings between the two nations.

The Matildas squad for their United States tour is:

Goalkeepers – Melissa Barbieri (Melbourne), Lydia Williams (Canberra)

Defenders – Di Alagich (Sydney), Kim Carroll (Brisbane), Lauren Colthorpe (Brisbane), Kate McShea (Brisbane), Karla Reuter (Brisbane), Cheryl Salisbury (Newcastle), Clare Polkinghorne (Brisbane)

Midfielders – Joanne Burgess (Brisbane), Amy Chapman (Canberra), Heather Garriock (Sydney), Collette McCallum (Perth), Amber Neilson (Newcastle), Joanne Peters (Newcastle), Sally Shipard (Brisbane)

Forwards – Kate Gill (Newcastle), Caitlin Munoz (Canberra), Kyah Simon (Sydney), Sarah Walsh (Sydney)
(current home city)

The Matildas are preparing for the 2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup to be held from May 28 – June 8, 2008, in a venue yet to be announced.

The United States will be looking to utilise the matches as further fine-tuning of their Olympic title defence in Beijing, after their victory in the final of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament in Mexico on Saturday.

Tour Fixtures:
Sunday, April 27
USA v Australia
WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary, Nth Carolina, 7pm local time (9am AEST Monday)

Tuesday, April 29
Australia v Carolina Railhawks - Cary, kick-off TBC

Saturday, May 3
USA v Australia
Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama, 4pm local time (7am AEST Sunday)

The Matildas moved to an all-time high world ranking of 12 following the FIFA Women's World Cup, while the United States last month reclaimed their world number one ranking after their win in the 12-nation Algarve Cup.
Peter Smith

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Sally Shipard writes: 45 days until World Cup squad announced

World Cup places up for grabs.

"It's time to focus on the World Cup."

Matilda's star Sally Shipard writes every Thursday for Football in the Capital. This week Sally gives an update on the Matilda's and their World Cup (in Beijing, China in September) preparations.

Hi guys

The weekend just gone was the first time we had gotten together since our Olympic qualifying games against North Korea.

Over the past 3 weeks we have had time to recharge and really think about how much we want to perform well at this World Cup. Our failure to qualify for the Olympics next year is very much in the back of our minds. We have all re-focused.

We all proved this with solid performances during the camp held in Coffs Harbour over the weekend. Tommy (Sermanni) called in a large squad to remind everyone that positions for the World Cup squad are not cemented.

Two younger girls from the Youth team Elise Kellar-Knight and Kyah Simon were called in and performed very well. The squad will be announced in 40 days time and the official countdown till our first game is 70 days.

We are now at our home institutes, completing the individual programs provided by our AIS Strength and Conditioning coach, Tim Rogers.

Our next camp is scheduled for the 17th of July till the 23rd. The international games that we are playing for our World Cup preparation have not been confirmed as of yet...
will keep u informed:-)

bye Sal.

ps Eamonn asked me about Sasha McDonnell. She is currently taking a break from football.

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