Matildas golden generation given last shot at silverware but next wave are key to Asian Cup hopes | Samantha Lewis | OneFootball

When Joe Montemurro called Remy Siemsen to tell her she had been named in the Matildas squad for the Women’s Asian Cup, she was so relieved she almost fell off her chair. Mary Fowler, racing against time to return to fitness after an ACL tear, cried at the news.

Amy Sayer, one of Australia’s breakout stars of the past year, was in disbelief, checking and double-checking that it was really happening. Alex Chidiac, whose national team career has started and stopped under multiple coaches, cried too.

There was a conversation like this for each of the 26 players selected to represent Australia in the tournament, which kicks off with a match against the Philippines on 1 March. In the space of a single moment, months and years of perseverance, bravery, and sacrifice were rewarded.

For each of them, this tournament will mean something different.

It is likely that this Asian Cup will be the last for many of the team’s veterans, the “golden generation” who rocketed the Matildas to stardom and lifted them to a peak three years ago. Sam Kerr, Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord, Alanna Kennedy, Emily van Egmond, Mackenzie Arnold, Katrina Gorry, Hayley Raso and Michelle Heyman are entering the twilight of their careers, edging towards or already past 30.

This will probably be the last chance this core have to not only win the continent’s biggest trophy, but to win anything at all on home soil. After their fourth-placed finish at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, they have been given a rare second shot at lifting silverware in the place that produced them, surrounded by family and friends and the biggest fanbase they have ever had.

The stakes are higher still this time around, with the Asian Cup doubling as the qualification path for next year’s Women’s World Cup. Australia must reach the semi-finals to guarantee passage to the global showpiece in Brazil, or else tumble into an inter-confederation playoff.

There is a weight to that, too. A feeling of responsibility to the next generation of Matildas, to pass down a torch that is, hopefully, still alight.

That was one of the guiding principles of Montemurro’s squad selection, too: while this Asian Cup feels like the end for some players, it is just the beginning for others. Eight of the 26-strong squad will be competing in the tournament for the first time, including Sayer, Winonah Heatley, Clare Hunt, Kahli Johnson, Jamilla Rankin, Charlize Rule, Kaitlyn Torpey and Jada Whyman.

They may not be names Australia fans recognise or connect with yet, but they will be the ones who lead the Matildas into the future.

“If you look at the squad, to have the amount of players making their first appearance at the tournament, but now also stabilising that future for us going forward, I think is really important,” Montemurro said at the squad announcement on Thursday.

“That’s the most exciting part of this group; we were able to identify some talents playing at a good level overseas that will bring the ideas we’re trying to bring forward in terms of the football we’re trying to play. They’re top talents, playing at good clubs, coming in with great form.

“The biggest thing for me was to find a good balance in the squad, good balance that each scenario is adhered to – meaning that if we get a situation where we lose a player early, or we go a goal down, we’ve got the opportunity to make those impacts. So we needed players prepared [to] make an impact.”

Striking this balance is not just about future-proofing the team, but also avoiding the weaknesses that exposed Australia at the last Asian Cup in 2022.

A lack of depth in multiple positions, and a failure to manage the big moments, ultimately saw the Matildas knocked out at the quarter-final stage in India, meaning they would have missed the World Cup had they not qualified automatically as co-hosts.

This time around, the coaching staff have done everything they can to build a squad where every position has multiple back ups, with positional versatility and tactical flexibility a deciding factor. Tournament football can throw all sorts of weird and wonderful dilemmas a team’s way, but those that go furthest are the ones who are prepared for all of them.

“We’ve seen many tournaments – the men’s World Cup, Women’s World Cup – bring up a lot of surprises,” Montemurro said. “It’s very important that we’re prepared for quick turnarounds. We’ve also got a bit of travel, so that has its difficulties and challenges.

“But the biggest thing for me was to make sure we covered all scenarios. So if we needed to change system, if we need to change structure, we could do that quickly.

“We’ve done a lot of work, even in the background with staff, in terms of being prepared for a lot of scenarios. So the squad, we believe, is strategically prepared for all those scenarios that tournament football can bring.”

Header image: [Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images]