CANBERRA, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) — Australia will play the house leg of their Olympic girls’s soccer qualifier in opposition to Uzbekistan in Melbourne, Football Australia (FA) has introduced.
FA on Monday confirmed that the Matildas will play Uzbekistan at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on February 28, 4 days after the away leg within the essential third spherical qualifying tie on February 24.
The winner of the tie will change into considered one of two groups from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to qualify for the 2024 Olympic girls’s soccer event in Paris. Japan will play DPR Korea for the second spot.
If victorious, the Matildas will make historical past by qualifying for a 3rd straight Olympic soccer event after shedding within the quarterfinals in Rio in 2016 and within the third-place play-off on the Tokyo Olympics.
It would be the first time for the Matildas to face Uzbekistan since they overpowered the central Asian crew 10-0 within the qualifying event for Beijing 2008.
Head coach Tony Gustavsson, whose contract expires on the finish of the Paris Olympics, mentioned in an announcement, “For our team, this is an opportunity to continue adding to the significant legacy they have already built and to provide another moment where we can unite as a nation.”
“Qualifying for a third straight Women’s Olympic football tournament would be another piece of history for this group of players and I know every member of the team will be doing everything possible to be prepared,” the coach added.
It would be the Matildas’ first match in Melbourne since beating Canada 4-0 of their last group stage match within the FIFA Women’s World Cup in July and first on the 53,000-capacity Marvel Stadium since beating France 1-0 of their final pre-World Cup pleasant.