For the first time in 16 years, the Young Matildas are bound for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup.
The tournament kicks off in Costa Rica on August 11 (AEST), with Australia U20 head coach Leah Blayney selecting a squad with an average age of just 18.2 years in a bid to accelerate the development of the next wave of senior Matildas.
To understand how important that is, Australia hasn’t qualified for the U20 World Cup since 2006 – that tournament helped launch the careers of Lydia Williams and Clare Polkinghorne, now Matildas stars with more than 100 caps each to their respective names.
Head coach of the Matildas at that time was Tom Sermanni, who played a significant role in both transitioning Australia into the Asian Football Confederation, and establishing the formerly-named W-League.
Speaking to KEEPUP, Sermanni explains how both ventures have helped prepare the current wave of Young Matildas – a 21-player squad brimming with “real talent” – to shake up the U20 World Cup in Costa Rica.
The squad
Blayney’s 21-strong squad includes 17 players who featured in the Liberty A-League last season:
- Sally James (Melbourne City)
- Naomi Chinnama (Melbourne City)
- Charlize Rule (Sydney FC)
- Ella Tonkin (Adelaide United)
- Jamilla Rankin (Brisbane Roar)
- Sarah Hunter (Sydney FC)
- Bryleeh Henry (Western Sydney Wanderers)
- Hana Lowry (Perth Glory)
- Cushla Rue (Wellington Phoenix)
- Paige Zois (Melbourne Victory)
- Alexia Apostolakis (Western Sydney Wanderers)
- Jessika Nash (Sydney FC)
- Sheridan Gallagher (Western Sydney Wanderers)
- Chloe Lincoln (Canberra United)
- Kirsty Fenton (Newcastle Jets)
- Miranda Templeman (Adelaide United)
- Kahli Johnson (Sydney FC)
Abbey Lemon (Blacktown Spartans), Greta Kraszula (VCU Athletics), Jynaya Dos Santos (Football NSW Institute) and Daniela Galic (Football NSW Institute) join the 17 players above in completing Blayney’s 21-player squad.
READ: ‘ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE’ AWAITS FOR 21 YOUNG MATILDAS SELECTED FOR U20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
Sermanni’s squad verdict
“I think it’s fantastic for their development, and I think they’ve got a real chance.
“I’ve been fortunate to see a bit of the team training at Western Sydney Wanderers facility, and I’ve seen quite a lot of them play in the ALW.
I think there is real talent in this team. Going into the tournament I think they’ve got a chance to do well.
“Youth tournaments are always very fickle and difficult to predict because depending on how much development countries have done they can be good in one tournament and not so good in the next tournament.
“It’s difficult to predict who will be the best teams, but I think there’s a good amount of talent in this team, and because of the (ALW) they’ve had at least a good amount of experience in playing some senior football in a national competition. I think all that has helped.
Players to watch
“Sarah Hunter has impressed me. She’s certainly a player that’s got really, really good ability.
“Daniela Galic, she’s a player that’s got real potential – but I don’t know how much game time she might get because she’s very young.
“Bryleeh Henry is somebody you want to see flourish at this tournament; she’s got a lot of really good qualities.
“Jessika Nash and Jamilla Rankin, they’ve got to be the key players that set the tone for the team. Their performances – they’re going to be in critical positions where they’re key to the team’s performance and getting a result.
“Sheridan Gallagher excites me; she’s powerful, she’s quick, she’s capable… I think with the ability she’s got within her, explosive attacking ability, strength, she ticks a lot of boxes. She’s the type of player that could actually really catch the eye at this tournament.”
The fixtures
The Young Matildas are in Group A alongside host nation Costa Rica, Brazil and Spain. The 16-team tournament will see two teams progress from each of the four groups into the quarter-finals.
All games will be broadcast LIVE and FREE on SBS Australia.
Costa Rica v Australia
Wednesday, 10 August 2022 (local)/ Thursday, 11 August 2022
Venue: Estadio Nacional, San Jose
Kick-Off: 8:00 pm CST (local)/ 12:00pm AEST
Broadcast: SBS Australia
Brazil v Australia
Saturday, 13 August 2022 (local)/ Sunday, 14 August 2022
Venue: Morera Soto, Alajuela
Kick-Off: 2:00 pm CST (local)/ 6:00am AEST
Broadcast: SBS Australia
Australia v Spain
Tuesday, 16 August 2022 (local)/ Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Venue: Morera Soto, Alajuela
Kick-Off: 8:00 pm CST (local)/ 12:00pm AEST
Broadcast: SBS Australia
Australia’s 16-year U20 World Cup absence ends in 2022
There are a number of factors, says Sermanni, which have contributed to Australia’s absence from the past six instalments of the U20 Women’s World Cup.
The Young Matildas qualified for the inaugural tournament in 2002, and then in 2004 and 2006.
In ’02 and ’04 Australia qualified via the Oceania Football Confederation before a move to the AFC which has made qualification to the tournament more difficult for Australia.
The Young Matildas qualified for the 2022 U20 World Cup due to the withdrawal of DPR Korea from the nomination process; Australia received an invitation as the next highest-ranked member association from the 2019 AFC U19 Women’s Championship – a tournament used to determine the Asian representatives after the cancellation of the 2022 U20 Asian Cup.
“The challenge for qualification was you weren’t just coming up against good Asian teams, you were coming up against teams that at youth level were the best teams in the world. That made it difficult,” Sermanni said.
“The second thing was, we were just building our underage programs at that stage as well.
“The other thing that made it challenging was the type of football we hadn’t been exposed to. Going into Asia from that perspective made qualification actually very difficult – and that is I think the main reason why the team hasn’t qualified for all these years – and in fairness, only qualified by default this time as well.
“It’s a combination of all those factors…the whole dynamic changed as soon as we went into Asia, right through our whole program.
“The key component of your youth programs is to produce players for your senior team.
“When you look at all the players that came through at that time: Sam Kerr, Emily van Egmond, Caitlin Food, Steph Catley, all of them – they had great experience because some of them were playing in the U17’s, U20’s and the senior team, so although our youth teams never qualified they were getting a significant amount of experience of going in and out of Asia, playing in difficult circumstances. That’s what really gave them their foundation to go into the national team and be as successful as they are now. It was that development.
“It’s not a secret and it’s not rocket science. If we had stayed in Oceania, I don’t think we would’ve got any of that, and our players in the national team wouldn’t be where they are now.”
‘You can’t put a price on it’: The A-Leagues’ crucial role in ensuring cup readiness
Of the 21 players venturing to Costa Rica for the U20 World Cup, 80% of Blayney’s squad members featured in the ALW last season.
Paige Zois of Melbourne Victory finished the season an ALW champion. Sarah Hunter, Kahli Johnson, Jessika Nash and Charlize Rule were premiers and grand finalists with Sydney FC.
A further four were finalists: Sally James and Naomi Chinnama with Melbourne City, and Miranda Templeman and Ella Tonkin with Adelaide United.
Together, the 17 players from ALW sides in 2021-22 bring an abundance of experience to the squad which will be of great advantage to the squad in the group stage and, hopefully, beyond.
“The great thing the group has had, is a lot of these players have had good experience in the ALW,” Sermanni said. “The league has been critical – and that’s one of the reasons we started the ALW, the development aspect of it. I think that’s been hugely successful in that regard.
“What is important at your youth age group is obviously qualifying for tournaments, but getting players to get that experience of travelling and playing, adversity and what you have to come up against is so invaluable. You can’t put a price on it.”
Featured image credit: Ann Odong / Football Australia.
