The Matildas are confident they can contend for a maiden Women’s World Cup title on home soil but superstar captain Sam Kerr insists the tournament’s legacy won’t be dependent on whether Australia wins it.
In-form Australia kick off their tournament against Ireland at what will be a packed Accor Stadium in Sydney on Thursday night, attempting to become the first host team in 24 years to win the World Cup.
No host country has claimed the game’s ultimate prize since Brandi Chastain famously sealed the United States’ 1999 triumph.
When asked how confident she was that Australia could break that run, Kerr said: “Everyone’s here to win. So I’ll keep my cards close to my chest, but we’re really confident.
“But for us, it’s just about the first game. Ireland’s the most important and right now we’re playing that game with no other game in mind.
“So that’s our final at this point.”
Kerr, attending her fourth World Cup, has seen the women’s game explode in popularity and only expects it to keep growing.
“To come to the stadium and have the realisation that we really have brought the Women’s World Cup to Australia is a really good moment for all of us,” she said.
“For years to come this will be talked about – hopefully decades to come,” she said.
“Hopefully with the success of the tournament, it’ll only get bigger and better. You saw what’s happened in England with the Euros. So hopefully we can replicate that.
“The legacy has already been made by bringing this World Cup here.
“We’ve already seen what hosting this tournament has done for the country and everyone’s here to win but the legacy will not be defined, the grassroots and all of that, by how this tournament goes.”
When asked what he put the home team drought down to, coach Tony Gustavsson talked about the quality of opposition – but also the obvious mental factor.
“Probably it represents a little bit of the mental side of things – playing on home soil, how people handle that, whether they use it as pressure or they use it as belief and support,” Gustavsson said.
“That’s something we’ve talked a lot about – we feel the support.
“Like when we played in front of 50,000 against France (in Melbourne), we felt the support and we felt the belief, much more so than feeling pressured.”
Gustavsson kept his cards close to his chest on the fitness of his squad and his starting XI.
After the pair combined superbly against France, Alanna Kennedy could partner Clare Hunt in defence, with Clare Polkinghorne still building minutes as she returns from a foot injury.
All 23 squad members trained on Wednesday, including Charli Grant, who has recovered from illness.
Tameka Yallop and Kyah Simon were both on the track but on different training programs, and appear unlikely to feature in the opening game.
The Irish will have midfielder Denise O’Sullivan available after she recovered from a shin injury suffered in last week’s aborted ‘friendly’ against Colombia.
