Matildas veteran's message to axed young gun

Matildas veteran Emily van Egmond has admitted life as a professional footballer can be tough and urged young gun Courtney Nevin to fight hard to win back her spot in the Australian squad.

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson made four changes to the squad for its final Olympic qualifiers, which included blooding 23-year-old defender Kaitlyn Torpey at the expense of Nevin, a 22-year-old defender.

Nevin made her Matildas debut at the age of 19 and quickly became a mainstay of the squad, including at the 2023 World Cup, when they captured Australia’s imagination on a fairytale run to the semi-finals.

But the Leicester City rising star is not a member of the 23-player squad for the two-match series against Uzbekistan, beginning on Saturday night (AEDT).

She faces a difficult challenge in her bid to get back in the squad for the Olympics, provided Australia qualifies, given the squad will be cut from 23 to 18.

“It’s not easy as a professional footballer,” van Egmond said.

“Everyone’s striving towards the same achievements, and especially for us as a team, for us it’s to qualify for Paris. It’s a smaller roster than it was at the World Cup. I think everyone’s in a position now where it’s a challenge and it’s competitive, and at the end of the day that’s what you want as a national team; you want the most competitive squad that’s available.

“At this given time obviously the coaching staff have picked Kaitlyn Torpey. It’s terrific for her to come in and to experience the national team.

“But I always have the mindset that just because you maybe don’t make one camp, you can’t count it out [and] you’ve just got to keep working hard. Every single person who’s going for a position on that Olympic roster will be doing exactly that.”

Australia, ranked 12th in the world, will face world No.47 Uzbekistan in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, from 8pm on Saturday (AEDT).

The two sides will then meet at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium at 8pm on February 28.

The Matildas will be without megastar forward Sam Kerr, who ruptured an ACL on a training camp in Morocco with Chelsea in January.

“As a professional athlete you’re always wanting to win, no matter what the circumstances are,” van Egmond said.

“But for us this is part one of the stepping stone, which is to qualify, and I think if we can do that in these next two games we can check that part off. But until we’ve done that I don’t think it’s necessary to look too far ahead. The goal is to be there at Paris and right now the focus is on Uzbekistan and getting two wins against a competitive team in them.”