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With the Matildas set to face France in front of a record crowd in Melbourne on Friday night, fans can watch the squad unveiling at Federation Square tomorrow afternoon.
“Thanks to the Victorian Government’s support, there will be a unique opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge Australia’s Final Squad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 with a public appearance at the iconic Federation Square in Melbourne on Tuesday, 11 July 2023,” begins a statement on the Matildas website.
“The event, open to the public, will see Australia’s final squad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup presented with their jerseys.”
With only standing room tickets remaining for Friday night’s friendly against the world’s fifth-ranked nation and fellow tournament combatants France, it’s safe to say World Cup fever has finally arrived.
More than 50,000 fans are set to descend on Docklands to see if Tony Gustavsson’s team can down a France side that remains unbeaten in 2023 – despite some less-than-ideal preparations.
The suggestion by star players Wendie Renard, Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani that they would sit out the World Cup prompted the French Football Federation to belatedly act – sacking long-time coach Corinne Diacre after seemingly countless complaints.
In came the much-travelled Hervé Renard as Diacre’s replacement – he’s no relation to Wendie – and suddenly veteran skipper Renard and goalscorer Diani were back in the squad, along with the hugely experienced Eugénie Le Sommer and Amandine Henry – although the latter subsequently withdrew through a calf injury.
The two nations haven’t met since France defeated an understrength Matildas outfit 2-0 in Saint Etienne in 2018, but Gustavsson’s side will go into Friday night’s encounter brimming with confidence following their eye-catching 2-0 win over a highly-fancied England in Brentford back in April.
Having trimmed his squad from 29 to the final 23 last week – Emily Gielnik and the injury-ravaged Chloe Logarzo were the two biggest names to miss out – there’s no doubt things are about to get very real for the players awarded the honour of representing Australia at the biggest sporting event of the year.
And a farewell friendly in front of a packed Marvel Stadium crowd will be a nice little money-spinner for both Football Australia and the Victorian government – who will no doubt earn plenty of tourism dollars from interstate travellers keen to see as much of the Matildas as they possibly can over the next few weeks.
(Photo by Steve Christo – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Football Australia has been far better at lobbying for government support under James Johnson’s leadership, resulting in genuine infrastructure investments such as the multi-million-dollar ‘Home of the Matildas’ at La Trobe University in Melbourne’s north-east.
But comments made by former Socceroo and current Football Victoria president Kimon Taliadoros during the week laid bare the inescapable reason that football will forever play second fiddle to a provincial code in Melbourne.
With the city hosting just six of the 64 matches at the Women’s World Cup – and the major knock-out fixtures taking place in Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland and Wellington – Taliadoros told the Herald Sun he fears Melbourne will continue to miss out on marquee football matches unless a larger rectangular stadium is built.
The Victorian government has already built a rectangular stadium, of course, with AAMI Park – sorry FIFA, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium – set to be packed to the rafters when the Matildas host Canada in group-stage action at the 30,000-capacity venue on July 31.
And FIFA mandates around exclusive use and advertising-free venues mean neither the AFL-owned Marvel Stadium, nor the Melbourne Cricket Ground, were ever viable options to host Matildas games at the World Cup.
Yet you can’t help but think that FIFA side-stepping Melbourne for more amenable cities invariably suits the Australian Football League down to the ground.
There was no way the AFL was ever going to make it easy to host Women’s World Cup at their own venues.
Melbourne might like to label itself the sporting capital of the world, but when the eyes of the globe are on Sydney for the finale of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Victorian capital will come off looking decidedly second-best.