Opinion
The Australian under-20s women’s team, the Young Matildas, will take part in their first FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 16 years when they travel to Costa Rica in August.
The team will be coached by Leah Blayney, who becomes the first woman in Australian football history to take a national team to a World Cup.
Blayney, who was vice-captain when the Young Matildas last qualified in 2006 in Russia, is touted as one of the best young coaches in Australia. She will now get her chance on the world stage along with the future of Australian women’s football.
“The opportunity for our Commonwealth Bank Young Matildas to show the world their abilities as individuals, and as a group, will be a game-changer for women’s football moving forward,” Blayney said in a press release from FA today.
“Very few youth players get the opportunity to play on the world stage and this is a tournament that has introduced us to global superstars like Marta, Christine Sinclair, Alex Morgan, Dzsenifer Marozsán and Asisat Oshoala.
“The last time we qualified in 2006, I was a player and to now have the chance to lead these young women to the tournament, it fills me with great pride but also determination to ensure we maximise the opportunity. This has come at a fortuitous moment where we as a nation are actively seeking higher level match minutes for our youth players at all levels.
“This class of players have demonstrated through their performances in the A-League Women competition that they have enormous potential, and this could accelerate their football education. The impact this will have moving forward for the 2024 Paris Olympics, 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2032 Brisbane Olympics is phenomenal.”
Alen Stajcic, who was assistant coach to Alistair Edwards in 2006 when the Young Matildas played in Russia, was pleased to see the class of 2022 get their chance.
“[It is a] fantastic opportunity for generation next to be exposed high level and high pressure international football,” he said.
“It will definitely help fast track their development and should provide the Future Matildas squad with greater depth and experience.”
The 2020 version of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 version will run from 10-28 August across two host cities: San José and Alajuela.
The 2022 Asian U-20 Championships, which would have served as a qualifying tournament for Costa Rica, was recently cancelled. This meant the results from the 2019 tournament in Thailand, where Australia finished fourth, were used to determine the three Asian countries that will take part.
The top three from that 2019 event were Japan, North Korea and South Korea. But with North Korean national teams not taking part in any sporting tournaments due to strict COVID measures enforced by their government, the Young Matildas will now take their place.
This will be the Young Matildas’ third adventure to the World Cup. In 2002 in Canada they came fifth after making the quarter-finals, in 2004 in Thailand they came seventh having earned another quarter-final berth, but in Russia in 2006 they just missed out on the knockout stages.
The likes of Courtney Nevin, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Mary Fowler, Bryleeh Henry and Jessika Nash to name a few will all be in the hunt for a trip to Central America. With all having had senior Matildas experience, it will hold them in good stead as they take on the world.
Sixteen nations from six confederations will participate in Costa Rica, with four groups of four teams. The top two will go through to the knockout stages.
The official draw is scheduled to take place in San José, Costa Rica on 5 May 2022.
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