Matildas ready for ‘Irish physicality’ as World Cup opener looms large

The Matildas are preparing to fight fire with fire in their World Cup opener against a Republic of Ireland team famous for their physicality but reeling from the weekend’s abandoned friendly with Colombia.

Ireland coach Vera Pauw pulled her players off the pitch 23 minutes into Friday night’s behind-closed-doors hit-out against the South Americans, saying they “felt in big, big danger” after a challenge on Denise O’Sullivan sent the star midfielder to hospital and left her in doubt for Thursday night’s headline clash at Stadium Australia.

While the incident has poked a big hole in their opponents’ preparation, Australia are settled in camp in Brisbane, coming off a 1-0 farewell win over France and looking ahead to a rematch against a team with whom they have a score to settle.

The Matildas lost 3-2 to Ireland in Dublin in September 2021, in a flat and dispiriting performance to mark Sam Kerr’s 100th cap. Now Tony Gustavsson’s side knows what to expect: a team who, according to Pauw herself, are “very tough-playing” and “do not fear physicality”.

The irony was not lost on defenders Clare Hunt and Alanna Kennedy, who hoped O’Sullivan would be okay but knew exactly what to expect in their first Group B fixture.

“What happened the other night obviously impacts the Irish team but it doesn’t necessarily impact our preparation,” Hunt said on Monday.

“It’s terrible that a game had to be abandoned for those reasons but, in terms of the Irish physicality, they’ve always had it and they always will. We are preparing in that same way.

“We know that is a strength of theirs and we are just working to nullify that in any way we can. We’re obviously also a very transitional and physical team, so I think it will be a good battle.”

Kennedy got some good practice in on Friday night courtesy of an altercation with French forward Eugenie Le Sommer, in the 28-year-old’s first international this year after a horrendous run of injuries.

“We’re not only a tough team, but we’re also technically and tactically sound as well,” Kennedy said. “So it’s a combination of all those things and just playing smart football. Whether it’s physical or tactical, we’ll be ready for whatever they throw at us.

“I hope [O’Sullivan] is okay because you don’t want to see any players injured at the moment, especially right before the start of the World Cup. She’s obviously a big player for them but for us, whether she plays or whether someone else replaces her, it doesn’t change anything.”

Perhaps the one thing that has changed is Kennedy’s new central defensive partnership with Hunt. The former’s impressive 80-minute return marked the first time the pair had played together since Gustavsson plucked Hunt from the Western Sydney Wanderers.

The 24-year-old World Cup debutant has been a revelation, bringing much-needed depth to the backline, and appears in the box seat to start alongside Kennedy, whose “body’s a little bit sore” but recovered adequately to go again.

“I’ve had an opportunity to work with Alanna for the last four to five weeks in our pre-camp,” Hunt said. “For us that was instrumental in our performance the other night.

“We work quite well together. We understand each other. We’re both aggressive centre-backs, so it has taken a bit of pulling back from both of us to know that if one of us is being aggressive the other one’s got to cover.

“Her composure on the ball and ability to read the game is wonderful. Polks as well is extremely composed in terms of her defensive attributes. Each of the centre-backs brings their own capacities and their own abilities. Whoever takes those two central positions will do their job mighty fine.”

The Matildas set the scene on Monday with a training session at their Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre base, where all players were present except for Tameka Yallop, Kyah Simon and Charli Grant.

Yallop hyper-extended her knee a short time in her shift off the bench against France and picked up what Gustavsson described as a “knock”, though those within camp insisted there were no concerns she would not be fit to play Ireland.

Simon, who is coming back from an ACL tear, is on her own tailored program in a bid to prove her fitness before Wednesday’s deadline for Gustavsson to draft in injury replacement should she not be ready, while Grant has a minor stomach bug.

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