‘Running out of opportunities’: Olympic medal weighs on Matildas’ old guard

For every Matilda on the verge of qualifying for her first Olympics, another is staring down the barrel of what could be her last. And Steph Catley’s golden generation know Paris 2024 represents one of the final chances to finish their careers with something golden – or silver, or bronze.

Tony Gustavsson’s Australia finished fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Games, and were more devastated still upon placing fourth again at last year’s home World Cup. Now, on the eve of Wednesday’s decisive qualifier against Uzbekistan, the lack of something tangible to show for their historic achievements in green and gold weighs particularly heavily on the shoulders of a core group of outfield players aged 30 and over.

That includes captain Sam Kerr (30) – for whom this Olympics is already an impossibility because of her ruptured ACL – and Catley (30), Katrina Gorry (31), Clare Polkinghorne (35), Emily van Egmond (30), Aivi Luik (38), Tameka Yallop (32) and Michelle Heyman (35). Core squad members Caitlin Foord, Hayley Raso, Alanna Kennedy and Chloe Logarzo are all 29.

And while the likes of Mary Fowler, Ellie Carpenter and Kyra Cooney-Cross are well positioned to take the team into the long-term future, the reality of the short term is front of mind.

“With this group we have come very, very close to achieving something physical,” Catley said on Tuesday in Melbourne. “At the last Olympics and the World Cup we finished fourth, and that’s something that sits pretty heavy within this group.

“We obviously are all getting a little bit older now and the opportunities for major tournaments is getting thinner, and we’re definitely very motivated to get something physical out of the last however many years that we’ve built this team up to the point that we are now.

Fourth-place finishes at both the last Olympics and World Cup weigh heavily on stand-in Matildas captain Steph Catley.

“I think the football we’ve played, especially over the last couple of years, we are competing with the best in the world consistently. And we want to continue to do that for as long as we can. But obviously, you look at the core group of this team, and we are definitely sort of running out of opportunities.

“We have to qualify for the Olympics first, but we definitely see this as a massive opportunity to get something physical out of what we’ve done over the last few years, and the passion and desire to do that is definitely there.”

The Matildas hold the advantage over Uzbekistan in this final qualifying tie, having won 3-0 in Tashkent on Saturday. The biggest challenge in the lead-up to the home leg at Marvel Stadium appears to be travel, a tight turnaround and taxing conditions.

The squad trained in Dubai last week, before flying into freezing Tashkent and playing in snow. They flew straight after the game back to balmy Dubai, and then got on a long-haul flight to Australia on Sunday morning. Having arrived in Melbourne on Monday morning, they are set to play Wednesday night’s match in oppressive heat hovering around 35 degrees.

Both Caitlin Foord and Michelle Heyman are in with a chance to start against Uzbekistan on Wednesday night.

In addition, Marvel Stadium – a hard surface at the best of times – hosted a Pink concert on the weekend. Catley said the surface rated “quite low on the list” of logistical challenges, though Gustavsson called for ground staff to “water it a lot because right now the ball sticks in the grass when it’s this dry.”

Despite it all, the coach promised “we are never going to change our attacking mindset, I tell you that”. He did indicate the possibility of a couple of changes, which could yet mean a start for striker Michelle Heyman and Foord.

The 35-year-old Heyman scored seven minutes after being subbed on just after the hour mark while Foord was brought on at half-time.

“Both of them are definitely options to start, especially considering Heyman’s performance when she came off the bench,” Gustavsson said. “Caitlin, we knew we had to adjust her load a little bit coming in. We’ll see in training today how she looks in terms of how many minutes and then whether we use those minutes from start or in a second half – it’s always a plan of 90 minutes.

“You might see a couple of rotations, but we also need to remember – or I remind you – that I also think consistency and chemistry is key.”

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