Matildas Head Coach Alen Stajcic has announced his 23-player squad for this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.
The average age of the squad is 23, with 10 players, including AFC Player of the Year Katrina Gorry, set to make their World Cup debuts.
The tournament will certainly be a baptism of fire for the World Cup debutants, who will represent Australia against women’s football powerhouses USA (FIFA ranking 2) and Sweden (5), as well as 2014 African Women’s Champions Nigeria (33) in Group D.
However, the Matildas will still have plenty of experience within its playing stocks, including explosive striker Lisa De Vanna, goalkeeper Lydia Williams and Brisbane Roar defender Clare Polkinghorne.
After a three year absence from national team duties, Adelaide United goalkeeper Melissa Hudson (nee Barbieri) will travel to Canada for her fourth World Cup.
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Sam Kerr, Tameka Butt, Leena Khamis, Kyah Simon and Williams have all been included in the squad after recovering from injuries.
The shock omission from the squad is Kate Gill, who is Australia’s all-time leading goal scorer and the 2014-15 W-League Golden Boot winner.
Questions have also been raised over the absence of full-back Teigan Allen and custodian Brianna Davey, the latter seemingly squeezed out of the side by the return of Hudson.
Coach Stajcic has only been in the job since September last year, but is confident that his side will be prepared come kick off on June 8.
“Going on from our philosophy and style of play, it’s a dynamic, mobile team that can attack and score goals,” said Stajcic.
“It is a team that has lots of variations in attack so I believe we can cause a threat to any team in the world, and the players that were picked were certainly picked with that in mind.
“Whether it’s keeping possession and playing out from the back and controlling the tempo, to the fire power we have up front, we are confident we have all of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that go into producing the mindset we need when we take the pitch.”
The unveiling of the World Cup squad follows the announcement that SBS will broadcast the entire tournament on SBS ONE, SBS HD and online via streaming.
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