Katrina Gorry says the Westfield Matildas are embracing the favourites tag for the upcoming AFC Women’s Asian Cup as they continue their quest to be the best team in the world.
After an incredible string of results last year, the Westfield Matildas reached an all-time high ranking of fourth in the world in December 2017.
While they dropped to number six earlier this week, the team are determined to continue their progression and become a consistent world force in coming years.
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“We’ve shown in the last year we can compete with the world’s best and we want to keep going and keep growing both as footballers and as a team,” Gorry told https://matildas.footballaustralia.com.au/.
“For the next three years it’s going to be big for us and we want to get into the top one, two or three [in the world].
“And we want to continue to compete with the best in the world.”
The first obstacle is next month’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Jordan, where Alen Stajcic’s squad have been pitted in a tough group that includes Japan, Korea Republic and Vietnam.
As the highest-ranked nation at the tournament, Australia will be favoured to go all the way to the final for the third Asian Cup in a row.
While they face a tough challenge just to make the semi-finals in such a tough group, Gorry believes it can work in their favour.
“It’s always good drawing the harder group and having the harder games going into the semi-finals,” she said.
“It makes it a lot harder for us to get up but if you have a couple of easy games you’re not really ready for the semi-finals. We’ve got a pretty good group and we just can’t wait to get there.
“We know what the Asian teams are capable of, we’ve played them many times before and we’ve put ourselves in big tournaments before,” the Brisbane Roar playmaker added.
“We know all the teams have got better over the last few months and every game is going to be a tough game. We need to make sure we come out firing in each game and I’m sure everything will fall into place.”
Gorry said Monday night’s historic first international in Perth against Thailand is the perfect preparation before heading to Jordan.
“It’s a huge opportunity and a building block into the Asian Cup. To be playing in Perth…it’s pretty exciting. It’s a beautiful city and we’re so excited to be here,” Gorry said.
“It’s exciting to see we finally got here…for the Perth public. They love their sport so hopefully they can get out and support us and I’m sure we’ll put on a great show.”
Westfield Matildas v Thailand
WHEN: Monday, March 26 - kick-off 9pm AEDT
WHERE: nib Stadium, Perth
HOW TO WATCH: LIVE on Fox Sports 501 and SBS Viceland