Milestone Matildas reflect on Sweden draw

A scoreless draw with Sweden was the setting for some important achievements made by Westfield Matildas. 

Teagan Micah became cap number 212, recording a clean sheet in her debut between the sticks while Hayley Raso brought up appearance number 50. 

Raso, well into her national team career, was incredibly proud to bring up a half century of appearances. 

"To be honest, I can't believe I'm here now. It's amazing to think that you know, I debuted alongside Alanna and Steph back in 2012. And many years on, I'm here playing my 50th game. So it's just amazing." Raso said post-game. 

"I actually only found out this morning, I knew I was pretty close. But I didn't know it was my 50th . So I'm pretty ecstatic about it. For me, there's no greater honour than representing my country. And it's just a privilege to be out here today and have got 50 caps."

At the other end of the spectrum, Micah described making her debut as a surreal, mixed bag of emotions. 

"I don't know. I was a bit of a wreck, but I wasn't like I was more excited than nervous which is always a good thing. The girls just got around me and just said be yourself, be bold. So I tried my best."

"I mean, it's such a relief, such an honour. No words can ever express that. And I mean, I'm just so glad the girls dug deep. We got a clean sheet. So yeah, it's just a bit more of a positive leading into the Olympics."

With Tokyo on the horizon, the match proved to be another step in the right direction for Kyah Simon, who is returning to match fitness after an ankle injury limited her club season, and the team as a whole. 

"I think it's all part of that preparation leading into the Olympics. If we can continue to build on each game and I think a clean sheet is really positive for us and we can take some confidence from that performance and know that we've improved from the last game only a few days ago."

"So lots of positives to take from it and also lots of room still for improvement. So I'm really proud of the girls efforts today."

MATCH REPORT: Westfield Matildas share spoils with Sweden in scoreless draw

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WATCH: Mini Match Sweden v Westfield Matildas

With only five weeks before the opening game against New Zealand, preparations ramp up to another level to ensure the team is peaking in Tokyo. 

"I think this next coming week, some girls will be freshening up and some girls will be ramping back up but  after that week, then we'll be back together as a full team and some girls will be off to their club."

"So the transition camp will be crucial for us to increase fitness and match minutes and create more of that cohesion on the field and on the training park and then we can take that into games as well. So I'm really looking forward to the transition camp and and hopefully we can hit the ground running come Tokyo." 

Australia take on New Zealand in Tokyo on July 21.