Matildas head coach Alen Stajcic has confirmed the squad he’ll take to the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August to represent Australia, with all bar one of the representatives set to participate in their first Games.
The Matildas will compete in just their third Olympic Games since women’s football was introduced in 1996, and it’ll be their first since Athens 2004, qualifying alongside China as the only two AFC nations in the women’s competition.
Stajcic selected a largely unsurprising squad compiled of recent Matildas regulars, including 16-year-old full-back Ellie Carpenter and experienced co-captain Clare Polkinghorne, while Perth Glory winger Samantha Kerr is set to return to the green and gold after recovering from a severe injury.
Kerr, currently with Sky Blue FC in the United States where she’s one of the most successful goal scorers in the National Women’s Soccer League, was ruled out of the W-League season and Olympic qualifiers when she ruptured a ligament in her left foot back in November whilst playing for Perth, but has recovered successfully in time to travel to Brazil.
Alongside Polkinghorne, Australia’s other co-captain, Lisa De Vanna, is the only one of the 18 players set to participate in her second Olympic Games, having travelled to Greece in 2004 where she helped defeat the hosts in the group stage en route to a quarter-final match against Sweden and an overall fifth place finish in the event – Australia’s best result so far at the Games.
Then 19-year-old De Vanna scored Australia’s only goal in that 2-1 defeat against Sweden to be one of three Matildas goal scorers in the tournament, and will lead the line in the next edition alongside Kerr, Sydney FC and Boston Breakers striker Kyah Simon, and Canberra United forward Michelle Heyman.
De Vanna, now 31, is just four goals away from overtaking Kate Gill as the Matildas highest ever goalscorer, currently sitting on 38 goals for the national team from her 110 caps.
Casey Dumont was the unlucky goalkeeper to miss out on selection with coach Stajcic selecting incumbent first-choice Lydia Williams and back-up Mackenzie Arnold as the two shot-stoppers to travel.
Ashleigh Sykes, Teigan Allen and Hayley Raso were the three most surprising exclusions from the team; Allen an experienced defender with 39 caps to her name at just 22 years of age, while Newcastle Jets shining light Chloe Logarzo was selected in favour of Melbourne Victory starlet, Raso.
Potential bolters Emily Gielnik and Aivi Luik were both left home as well; Luik fresh off her W-League success in Melbourne City’s championship-winning midfield, while Gielnik impressed in her return to the Matildas and played a hand in qualifying, scoring Australia’s opener in their 9-0 rout of Vietnam.
The Matildas finished top of the Asian qualifying group with four wins and a draw from their five matches, knocking off favourites and World Cup runners-up Japan 3-1 in their first game, and won every game thereafter until the final match against China which ended 1-1.
China are the only other AFC nation to participate in women’s football at the 2016 Olympics alongside Australia.
The Matildas have been drawn into Group F alongside Zimbabwe, Canada and Germany, the latter of whom are ranked second in the world in FIFA’s rankings, behind first-placed USA.
Only France (Group G) and England (failed to qualify) seperate Germany from the fifth-ranked Aussies in the world rankings.
Despite the Olympic Games being held in Rio de Janeiro, the Matildas will take on Canada and Germany in their first and second matches respectively at the Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, before travelling up the coast of Brazil to Salvador to face Zimbabwe.
The top two in each of the three groups will make it through to the quarter-finals stage, while the two best third-placed nations will also go through.
Matildas squad: Lydia Williams (Houston Dash/Canberra United), Mackenzie Arnold (Perth Glory), Clare Polkinghorne (Brisbane Roar), Laura Alleway (Orlando Pride/Melbourne City), Alanna Kennedy (WNY Flash/Sydney FC), Stephanie Catley (Orlando Pride/Melbourne City), Ellie Carpenter (Western Sydney Wanderers), Elise Kellond-Knight (Potsdam Turbine), Emily van Egmond (FFC Frankfurt), Katrina Gorry (Brisbane Roar), Tameka Butt (Brisbane Roar), Caitlin Foord (Perth Glory), Chloe Logarzo (Eskilstuna United/Newcastle Jets), Lisa De Vanna (Melbourne City), Michelle Heyman (Canberra United), Kyah Simon (Boston Breakers/Sydney FC), Samantha Kerr (Sky Blue FC/Perth Glory), Larissa Crummer (Melbourne City/Alamein FC)