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News extra
Dancing with the Matildas (15 August)
 Australian women’s soccer is thriving and, with five of the junior team competing successfully at the senior level in the recent AFC Women’s Asian Cup, looks set to be competitive for years to come.
Despite narrowly missing out on winning the Asian Cup, senior team the Matildas did well to fend off China, eight time Cup champions, to a penalty shoot out after extra time.
Buoyed by the recent achievements of the Matildas and the Socceroos in the World Cup in Germany, the Young Matilda’s have set off for the third FIFA under19/under 20 Women’s World Championship held in Russia.
While expectations are high for a strong performance in Russia, the competition will be fierce. The Young Matilda’s compete in group A of the draw against Russia (host nation and European champions), Brazil (South American champions) and New Zealand (Oceania champions) in the 16 nation tournament.
The first match will be against New Zealand in St Petersburg on August 17, followed by Brazil in St Petersburg on August 20 and Russia in Moscow on August 23
The Young Matildas are the first Australian team to qualify for a World Championship via an Asian tournament. They did so by defeating Japan in a play off for third place with Malaysia.
Sally Shipard will captain the team, who along with goal keeper Lydia Williams, Kylie Ledbrook and Collette McCallum, were outstanding for the senior Matildas in Adelaide.
Young Matildas team coach, Alistair Edwards told David Cooper of the Football Federation of Australia that the team has progressed significantly over the past 18 months and would be very competitive at the tournament.
“The players are developing into very, very good players. We’ve got five … in the national team and there’s probably three or four … to progress in the senior team as well.” Edwards said
Veteran soccer writer Allan Crisp said that women’s soccer is the fastest growing sport in Australia, with participation rates increasing in every state of Australia since the Matildas and Young Matildas began competing regularly for places in the world’s largest sporting events -- the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games.
The Matildas will compete in the Women’s Peace Cup in October in preparation for the 2007 World Cup and Olympic qualifiers.
By Jennifer Thomas
Links:
Football Australia
SBS TV Guide (for match times)
World Game
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