Key events
The email inbox has been hit up by James Paraskevas, who is in a confident mood as Australia prepare to take on the Olympic silver medallists.
“It was expected Brazil would win the first game. Our players are based on Europe/USA and playing more and more minutes these days. The Brazilians got their contacts in for a gig in Europe or the A League Women. I would say most are still playing in Brazil so these games are more important to them than Australia.
All player will be recovered tonight for Australia and the Matildas will win the true test tonight 3-0. Easy.
Goals to Heyman, Raso and Van Edmond.”
After Thursday was understandably all about Clare Polkinghorne, tonight will see Emily van Egmond honoured for reaching 150 caps in that game, just the fourth Australian – man or woman – to play that many senior internationals.
In starting tonight, she will make her 151st appearance moving into equal second with Cheryl Salisbury on the all time caps list for an Australian footballer
Tameka Yallop is interviewed on the Network 10 coverage, with the Brisbane local talking about how special it is to be playing on the Gold Coast.
Steph Catley is almost certain to be headed back to Arsenal after tonight’s game – they’ve got a game against Aston Villa next Sunday – but I wonder if the Melbourne local would have expressed similar sentiment about playing in Geelong next week.
One of the most notable features of Thursday evening’s clash was the physicality that the Brazilians brought to the contest – Tom Sermanni is fielding questions about it on Network Ten’s pre-game coverage.
In combination with an intense press that brought a level of intensity all its own in the humid conditions, As Canarinhas committed 17 fouls – and probably getting away with another few that easily could have been called – and had Vitória Calhau sent off late after she picked up a second yellow card.
It was an approach that frustrated Matildas’ players, fans, and Sermanni, the latter hopeful that the referees adopt a stricter approach in this evening’s game but, at the same time, insisting that his side are ready to match their foe’s physicality.
“I think you have to fight fire with fire. The challenge … is that Brazil have adopted a very different style of football to what we expect Brazil to play and a different style to what most of the top teams play.
“The reality is that you need to be able to match that and to adjust to play effectively against that. You have got to balance that out by looking at where the opportunities are to hurt them. A lot of that is to play a similar kind of game to them when we get the ball forward early and get one-on-one match-ups with their defenders.”
As you might have guessed from her being named on the bench, while there were a few reports circulating that the Brisbane game was set to be the last of her career, that 3-1 loss was Clare Polkinghorne’s send-off game – not her final goodbye.
Both the defender and caretaker coach Tom Sermanni were quick to clear up post-game that she would remain available for selection in this game as well as in the two games against Taiwan that will follow in Victoria next week. Then, she will hang up her legendary boots.
To some observers, Australia’s pace of change isn’t quick enough. Since that famous victory over France in Brisbane the Matildas have mostly stuttered, underlined by their group stage Olympics exit. Ten of the 11 players who started on Thursday were veterans of both last year’s World Cup squad and the group who went to Paris.
Here’s Jack Snape’s deeper look at that Lang Park clash and the Matildas time warp.
Starting XIs
The teams are in and the Matildas made three changes to the side that lost 3-1 in Brisbane.
Teagan Micah starts in place of Mackenzie Arnold in goal – making her first start since facing Canada on December 5 last year – and Queenslander Tameka Yallop and striker Michelle Heyman take their place in the outfield.
Clare Polkinghorne moves to the bench after her send-off game at Lang Park while Winonah Heatley also takes up a position amongst the substitutes after making her first international start in the loss.
It will be interesting to see what kind of shape the team adopts with this line-up. Will they move to a back four? Or will they retain the back five that has been a feature of their previous three games under Tom Sermanni, with Steph Catley kicking inside next to Alanna Kennedy and Clare Hunt and Yallop serving as a wing-back?
Brazil are also making a change in goal, albeit that may have been a forced one given Lorena replaced an injured Natascha Honegger during Thursday’s game, to go along with five changes amongst the outfielders.
Newly crowned NWSL champions Angelina and Adriana as well as Lauren, Kaká, and Gio Queiroz come in for coach Arthur Elias.
Preamble
Joey Lynch
Howdy all and welcome to live coverage of the Matildas international friendly against Brazil at Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast.
It was just 72 hours ago that these two sides were locking horns in Brisbane and it’s safe to say that the hosts will be looking for both improvement and a spot of retribution; a very physical Brazil spoiling Clare Pokinghorne’s send-off game at Lang Park by starting quickly before running out relatively comfortable 3-1 victors.
Taking advantage of the ample early space the Matildas left behind their lines in the opening exchanges, Amanda Gutierres nabbed an early brace in just her third senior international in that one, before Gio Queiroz grabbed one of her own early in the second half after coming on in the 23rd minute for an injured Marília Furiel.
Here’s my full match report to bring you up to speed.
And here’s the full minute-by-minute from Martin Pegan if you want an even more expansive breakdown.
Despite some rainy conditions throughout the day, Football Australia has already announced that the last of the tickets available for this evening’s game have been snapped up, making this the 16th consecutive time the Matildas have exhausted ticket allocations on home soil.
Kick-off time on the Coast of Gold is 6:35pm local / 7:35pm AEDT.
