Australia vs Italy: Time for the Maltidas to prove their worth...By Elume Raymond – Sports Analyst


 It is fair to say the No 6-ranked Matildas have Australia’s best-ever chance of winning a football
World Cup. Conversely, this makes the Matildas a genuine dark horse for the tournament.


 Galvanised by a frustrating past year or two, and ambitious to explore the uncharted – with a
determined, likeable, close-knit squad of players – they could pull it off in style.
Le Azzurre qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 20 years and managed to do so only
seven months after the men’s team failed to qualify for Russia 2018. The achievement could start
a new era for women’s football in Italy. After a strong 2018 campaign, the Azzurra started 2019
focused on erasing two decades of disappointment.


The fans back home are as enthusiastic as
ever about the women's game, and the team hopes to harness that excitement and ride it
through a tough group stage.
Previous Meetings in Major Tournaments
None
Recent form
Australia
5 Mar 2018: Australia-Chile: 2-0
7 Mar 2018: Australia-Portugal: 1-2
10 Nov 2018: Australia-Chile: 2-3
13 Nov 2018: Australia-Chile: 5-0
1 Jun 2019: Holland-Australia: 3-0
Italy
1 Mar 2019: Hungary-Italy: 0-3
4 Mar 2019: Italy-Taipei: 4-1
6 Mar 2019: N. Korea-Italy: 3-3
9 Apr 2019: Italy-Ireland: 2-1
29 May 2019: Italy-Switzerland: 3-1
What Australia must do to win it - Strengths/Weaknesses
Tactically, the system employed in April’s entertaining friendly defeat against the US was already
a bold evolution from that seen during the recent Cup of Nations tournament. Australia surprised
the world’s best team on home soil with an aggressive 4-2-4 (or lopsided 3-3-4) system that
pressed the full-backs high, and played swiftly and vertically in transition, forcing the US into
uncharacteristic mistakes.


Milicic is very clear in his philosophy – he wants the Matildas to dominate possession, to play
with attacking intent and courage and let the opposition adapt to their game.

This is tempered
with pragmatism – against the US the collective system was adapted to best support the
attributes of key individuals, surrounding spearhead Sam Kerr with the energetic Caitlin Foord,
with width provided by attacking wingers Lisa De Vanna, Emily Gielnik or Hayley Raso. In midfield,
the accomplished ball players Elise Kellond-Knight and Emily van Egmond are tasked with building
the play from deep, while rising star Ellie Carpenter is given licence to attack from right-back.



X-factor for the game: Ellie Carpenter
With 12 players boasting 50 or more caps the squad is an excellent blend of youth and
experience. Whether the Matildas are the finished article in time for this World Cup remains to
be seen, but Milicic is emphatic his side will play “the Australian way” – with energy, with courage
and with self-belief.


 What Italy must do to win it - Strengths/Weaknesses
That defensive solidity will be one of the team’s key strengths in France too, despite the loss of
the central defender Cecilia Salvai because of an anterior cruciate ligament injury.



 The team is well organised and has talented players but it lacks physical presence in some areas of the pitch.
a major concern is that several of the players have not played a lot of international football.
Bertolini maintains that Le Azzurre should be “humble and carefree”. She started the training
camp very early on, in the second week of May, to help her players get to grips with the way she
wants to play. The coach likes to mix things up and use different formations and Italy can play in
a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2, thanks to versatile midfielders such as Bonansea, Valentina Cernoia, Aurora
Galli and Manuela Giugliano.


 Bonansea, probably the best player in the squad, can operate as a
midfielder or as a left or right winger. Bertolini’s dilemma is which combination to pick up front
in France. Girelli, Valentina Giacinti, Mauro and Daniela Sabatino all have different qualities and
complement each other in different ways with one apparent paradox: Giacinti, the 2018 and 2019
Serie A top scorer, often starts on the bench.



X-factor for the game: Christiana Girelli
Italy have a clear goal: to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 1991. Le Azzurre hope
to surprise Australia and Brazil, the toughest opponents in Group C, and are aware that they will
have to win against Jamaica, 53rd in the Fifa world rankings, to achieve this target.

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