Matildas coach Alen Stajcic says his team will not be going to the 2016 Brazil Olympics with a ‘happy to be here’ mentality.
The qualfiers in Japan were treated as a mini World Cup for the Matildas and they blitzed through it undefeated. They learned their Olympic fate in mid-April, pitted against Canada, Germany and Zimbabwe. Now boss Stajcic is looking to continue the winning form right through the tournament, with gold in his sights.
“Our goal was never just to qualify, it was to achieve our best and we’ve achieved our best ranking now,” Stajcic said.
“We’re going for gold, but we put that expectation on ourselves before anyone in the public has. Before the qualifiers we knew how much talent and depth we had in the group.
“I’m just confident in our players. If we put everything together, we can certainly challenge for our medal.”
An international double-header at Etihad Stadium was announced on Tuesday morning, with the Matildas to face New Zealand before the Socceroos face Greece afterward on 7 June.
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The Kiwis have also qualified for the Olympics and Stajcic says it is a perfect opportunity for the Matildas to get match practice before the competition against quality opposition.
“To have us on equal billing with the Socceroos is a tremendous feather in our cap and hopefully it’s one that continues down the track and it further emphasises we want to be one of the greatest sports teams in Australia and one that everyone can assimilate too,” he said.
“We can’t wait, we’re on our way to Rio, and now New Zealand so we can’t wait to get into the preparation. It’s great to have a farewell, so thanks to everyone at FFA who helped put this together as well.
“I know the players are really starting to get edgy and can’t wait for the preparation to begin. This will be the last occasion where we get our full team together before we get to Rio. We’re all excited and pumped.
“The first game in the Olympics is against Canada and they share a lot of similarities in their playing style, for so many reasons it’s the perfect opponent for us.
“There’s nothing more important than playing matches and good quality games. People underestimate New Zealand sometimes, but I certainly don’t.
“The most important thing for us is it’ll be the last time before we get to Brazil where I can bring all the domestic and international players together and have real good hit out.”
It will be the first time the Matildas play in Melbourne in 10 years and the boss is hoping the fans turn out.
“To have a match at home is really significant, we don’t play enough at home. Hopefully we can increase that throughout the next cycle leading into the next World Cup and Olympics.
“Just to have that in the outset is very important, to have family and friends be able to watch. To know the nation is behind them, before we went to the World Cup we played against Vietnam and that was a quickly announced match and we had 5,000 people turn up in Kogarah.
“The players feel that sense and love from the Australian public. We’re away in Japan and we get the media reports, the players love sticking up the clippings on the wall and feeling the love from back home. To feel it inside of the stadium, we can’t wait for it.”
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