CANBERRA: Australia’s Matildas believe they can win the Fifa Women’s World Cup after recent victories over all their fellow semifinalists, says midfielder Tameka Yallop.
The Matildas will play their first World Cup semifinal against reigning European champions England on Wednesday night. The winner will face either Sweden or Spain in the final at Stadium Australia on Sunday night.
Ahead of the clash, the Australians on Monday hit the training track in Sydney for a light recovery session – their first since defeating France in the longest penalty shoot-out in World Cup history, reported Xinhua.
Speaking to reporters, Yallop said the squad took confidence from wins over all three remaining teams in the last 12 months.
“It gives us belief. It does show that we can beat the top teams. While we can take some positives from the friendlies, we’re going into this as a brand-new game and something that requires its own focus.”
Yallop started in the 2-0 win over England in April, but did not feature in February’s 3-2 win over Spain nor November’s 4-0 defeat of Sweden.
On Monday, the veteran midfielder credited the two-year build-up to the tournament under coach Tony Gustavsson for the Matildas’ success.
“For this group, the journey started over two years ago with TG coming in and building a group based on his football philosophies and also coming into what we already had. The timing of everything and all the finer details coming into place, it’s all happening now, which is really the pinnacle and the point that you want it to come together at.”
Support for the women’s national team has swept across Australia, becoming the country’s biggest sporting moment since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet with state and territory leaders on Wednesday when he could ask them to hold a public holiday to celebrate if the Matildas win the World Cup.
The 2023 World Cup, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, runs from July 20 to Aug 20. Notably, only the top two teams from the eight groups advanced to round 16, making it the first Women’s World Cup to feature 32 teams. – BERNAMA-XINHUA
