I think Sally James ended up making a Matildas squad list ahead of Courtney Newbon because she went through the farm system and selectors would value previous experience as part of the age grade sides, which unfortunately Newbon doesn't have even though she's been in remarkable form for Melbourne Victory this past season in the Dub.
Wow, true goalie crisis. FUCK.
Assuming Mackenzie Arnold is ruled out at some point then the Matildas are cooked since we'll have the most inexperienced keeper union in the entire comp with Chloe Lincoln as our most experienced player between the sticks with only three caps to her name despite her having prior major tournament experience, albeit at sub-continental level.
Macca was never an injury risk though so I don’t know why we would assume that. Teags was suspiciously out of the squad multiple times for Lyon and Jada only just came back from injury. Based on who has been called up it would be Sally James who has been in similar form to Chloe Lincoln that gets the call.
There are rumours currently abound that Mackenzie Arnold is carrying an injury and could be in doubt, but obviously if Macca were also ruled out that would be worst-case scenario for us. Definitely agree that Montemurro will be getting his marching orders and things will need to change if we don't go all the way as we're perfectly capable of lifting the trophy come March 21st and anything less than that would be considered an abject failure, with the Matildas having underperformed at the last two major tournaments should that be the case.
We should be developing our own not looking at nationalising players.
Yeah but we have to do that over time. Otherwise we may not have three good enough goalkeepers in five years’ time (how long naturalisation takes per FIFA’s rules and a year longer than needed for Aussie citizenship). In five years time Macca will be 37, Teags will be 33 and Jada will be 31.
Ideally from the April window onwards we should be starting to call up more fringe keepers who have been performing well in A-League Women, for instance Teresa Morrissey and Courtney Newbon, or promoting youth prospects like Georgia Ritchie from the farm system to bolster the goalkeeping stocks and deepen the national pool so that we are prepared sufficiently for the future in the absence of naturalised players.
Need some friendlies against weaker sides then I guess. Those are good shouts though.
Ilona Melegh is one to watch, she’s only 17 and now seems to be first choice for Adelaide United.
Ilona Melegh also definitely one of the youth prospects who should be promoted to the senior Matildas setup from the farm system in the future, and could well end up being the starting keeper for the Tillies one day.
That ‘one day’ will have to come quicker than you think,
It’s beyond obvious to me that FA have had no plan other than to get Montemurro at all costs and I hope it doesn’t come back to bite them. The Matildas are the ‘golden egg’ so, hopefully, FA can be the ‘goose’ and not the ‘gooses’.
That’s the problem with having a thin squad.
It happens to European teams too.
I don’t think that’s a good reason not to have enough players ready for international tournaments such as the Asian Cup, the Olympics or indeed any other international competitions. It all comes back to having no plan from one tournament to the next.
I mean that we should make the Olympics under-23s for the women’s like the men’s does already. We have enough good U23 players and plenty of the current Matildas were under 23 at the time of the Paris Olympics in 2024.I don’t think that’s a good reason not to have enough players ready for international tournaments such as the Asian Cup, the Olympics or indeed any other international competitions. It all comes back to having no plan from one tournament to the next.
I mean he’s a good coach, he’s coached several top teams in Europe (Arsenal, Juventus and Lyon). I think the FA were more so desperate for an Aussie coach (for whatever reason) and he’s the best there is. Could see Dario Vidošić doing it one day if he keeps doing well with Brighton. But the FA should know it’s absolutely okay to have a foreign coach. Same goes for the Socceroos picking Tony Popović (who wasn’t even the best Australian option).It’s beyond obvious to me that FA have had no plan other than to get Montemurro at all costs and I hope it doesn’t come back to bite them. The Matildas are the ‘golden egg’ so, hopefully, FA can be the ‘goose’ and not the ‘gooses’.