“We will be ready for everything they throw at us” says Steph Catley ahead of Australia’s clash with England | OneFootball

Australia’s Steph Catley has said that her side will be ready for anything that European champions England will hit them with in their game in Derby tomorrow.

It’ll be the first time these two sides have met since England defeated Australia 3-1 in the 2023 World Cup, and Catley acknowledged that memories of that day may impact the Matildas’ performance at Pride Park.

“The last time we played against them was in the 2023 World Cup, so I suppose it does become a little bit of a revenge game,” she said. “I think that is probably the most heartbroken I have been after a game in my career. So you do think about that a little bit, but it’s a completely new team, new coach, new players, so it’s a different sort of approach to the game now. We know this team so well, a lot of us train every day, with the players we are coming up against. That brings another layer to it. We are excited to get out there and challenge ourselves against one of the best teams in the world.”

Catley has been an Arsenal player for over five years now, making her familiar with plenty of England’s playing staff. As far as she’s concerned, though, this might end up being a double-edged sword.

“I don’t think [knowing so many players on England’s team] changes anything. It goes both ways in the sense that we know really well. I suppose it’s a little bit of mind games in some aspects. We are all competitors. You want to be the best you can every single day, and representing your country is very special. If anything, it makes you want to win more. But no, it doesn’t change anything to the way we approach the game,” she said.

After winning the Euros over the summer, England established themselves once more as one of the dominant forces in the game – not that Catley is particularly fazed by this.

“England bring lots of challenges. They are one of the best teams in the world. Their squad is full of some of the best international players that have been playing for a very long time. I think, going forward, they are very dynamic. Obviously we don’t know who is going to start, or who is going to play. But they all bring their own threats. The front three that started against Brazil, I know pretty well, Joe [Montemurro] knows them pretty well, they all bring their own unique challenges. The way we have developed as a squad, the players that we have in now, they are playing in some of the best competitions in the world, against some of the best players in the world every single day. We will be ready for everything they throw at us.

“Our mindset going into this game is to keep building on what we have started. We are technically at the start of our journey under Joe [Montemurro]. But we also don’t have a whole lot of time before what we are working towards in our first major tournament. So, it’s to continue building on what we have started, and to get another step better, to be further along our journey than we were yesterday,” she said.

Australia will face England at Pride Park at 19:00 GMT on Tuesday 28 October.