Job has only just begun for Polkinghorne and Westfield Matildas

Westfield Matildas stalwart Clare Polkinghorne has welcomed the Cup of Nations experience as a timely preparation months out from the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™.

The Westfield Matildas scored nine goals and conceded only one as they beat New Zealand, Korea Republic and Argentina on their way to claiming the inaugural Cup of Nations tournament.

Polkinghorne, who has played over 100 times for the Westfield Matildas, said the results were the perfect way for Ante Milicic to begin his reign.

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“I think it’s been a good start for us with the new coach coming in, it’s always nice to get wins in a row and you’re going to need that in tournament play,” said Polkinghorne.

“So to have that under our belt is good preparation for us, but obviously the quality of teams that we played wasn’t top-ten.

“Not too much has changed in terms of the way we want to play, in terms of keeping possession.

“We just want to be a team that can dominate other teams and move the ball very quickly, and I think we’ve seen improvements in that during the last three games.”

While most fans will have a break from women’s football, the same cannot be said for some of our Westfield Matildas.

Players such as Polkinghorne, Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord, to name a few, will fly over to the United States to begin their preseason in the National Women's Soccer League, before potentially being on the plane for France.

“So most of the girls will head over to the US to their club teams pretty much straight away and get into some preseason work over there,” said Polkinghorne.

“We’ll look to get some work under our belt at club level and then we get together for the game in the US and then back to the clubs for the start of the season."

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