Matilda’s defender Stephanie Catley says she is relishing the challenges the national team will face in the upcoming Olympic games in Brazil.
The Matildas have drawn Germany, Canada and Zimbabwe in their group. Germany is currently ranked second in the world as well as Canada sitting 10th.
Catley said it was important to play the strongest teams in the tournament and also spoke of the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada where they faced the US, Nigeria and Sweden in their group
“The Olympics is a smaller pool than the World Cup, which we got the group of death. Anything worse than that would have been a win for us I suppose,” Catley said.
“There’s class teams everywhere for the Olympics, we’re definitely relishing the challenge. Germany is one of the best teams in the world, we’re excited to battle and obviously Canada is in the top 10.
“Zimbabwe is similar to Nigeria who we played in the World Cup, they’re a bit unpredictable and there isn’t much video on them, so I’m just excited.”
Catley is now currently now playing in the US for NWSL side Orlando Pride, she has not had a break from football in almost two years after a successful season with Melbourne City, international duty at the Olympic Qualifiers in Japan and now the season which has just started.
Despite her hectic schedule the 22-year-old did not have any worries about fatigue.
“I have full confidence, my body is feeling really good at the moment, I feel really fit and like I’m in a good patch with my football. The league here is perfect leading into the Olympics, because I’m getting lots of games in and lots of training time,” she said.
“So I have no concerns at all, I’m being very careful and I’m being monitored daily by the national team and by the people here in Orlando. No worries there and everything’s good for now and just touch wood that everything goes alright on the way to Olympics and I’ll stay healthy.”
The 22-year old also thought the idea of mix gendered competition at the highest level was something that needs to be looked at and considered.
Women’s football around the world and in Australia has continually improved in both quality and attention it has received over the years.
Catley was the first female to feature on the Australian cover of the popular videogame FIFA, who introduced females to the game for the first time in 2015-16.
“It’s something I think could happen and I don’t see why not at all. I grew up playing with boys and it was one of my favourite things to do,” Catley said.
“Both can learn so much from each other from the way that we play, I think it’s a great idea.”
In recent months Matildas players in the likes of Ellie Carpenter who is 16-years-old and Co-captain Lisa De Vanna believed Catley would be the future captain of the national team.
Despite the pressure put on her, Catley said she needed to build her work ethic in order to live up to those expectations.
“That’s really cool to hear from the youngest girl on the team, it’s amazing to hear it from someone like Lisa who is the current Matildas captain. They’re big words, it’s something I need to work at every day and want to be better at, she said.”
“It’s something that comes a little bit naturally to me, but there’s things that don’t exactly. I’m still young and learning so much about the game and our national team. Hopefully I’m in it for years to come, still got to work hard every single day and focus on my football and hopefully everything else comes naturally.”
Catley was also confident young Matilda Larissa Crummer could contribute to the squad in the Olympics.
Crummer took out the W-League Young Footballer of the year award at the Dolan Warren awards in Sydney last week.
The pair played together in Melbourne City’s championship and undefeated season.
“I’ve spoken to her a few times, she’s so young, I always forget how young she is. I think she’s going to be a class footballer,” Catley said.
“To be already winning awards like that is huge for her and it’s big for the club. She had an amazing year for us, it was very well deserved and hopefully she can take that form into the national team.”
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