Lessons learned: Yallop says Matildas are ready for World Cup challenge

Tameka Yallop says the Matildas have drawn a line through Sunday’s loss to the Netherlands, confident they have identified the areas to improve ahead of their FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™ campaign.  

Australia’s final World Cup warm-up match might have ended in defeat in Eindhoven, but Yallop is adamant there were plenty of positives to take from the performance.

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“We let in a couple of goals from set pieces so we’ll look to tidy that up,” the midfielder said.

“But overall we had good possession, and good spells of play as well, so there’s no confidence lost there.

“We’ve been working on our defensive structure and how we want to defend. I don’t think there’s too much we need to work on.

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“It’s just the timing of things and tweaking a few little things but there’s nothing major we’ll be changing.”

After completing their first training session on French soil on Thursday, anticipation is building in the Matildas squad ahead of Sunday night’s (AEST) match against Italy.

Matildas v Italy Fixture


Le Azzurre, who are competing at their first FIFA Women’s World Cup in two decades, are set to pose a different challenge to that of the Netherlands.

 “I think the Italians are quite skilful in what they do and tactically pretty savvy as well,” Yallop explained.

So we are expecting an intense game, as it is anyway coming into the World Cup. There will be a lot of skill on display.”

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Steph Catley and Tameka Yallop are ready to go for Sunday's World Cup opener
Steph Catley (left) and Tameka Yallop are ready to go for Sunday's World Cup opener
How to Watch FIFA Women's World Cup 2019