The Matildas step their Olympic football preparations up a gear this week when they go into camp in Ballarat before taking on fellow Rio qualifiers New Zealand in the first of two matches in four days.
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Alen Stajcic's side gathered in the Victorian provincial city on Monday to prepare themselves for the first game against the Kiwis at Ballarat's Morshead Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The teams meet each other the following Tuesday at Etihad Stadium, where they will play in a curtain raiser before the Socceroos take on Greece.
Having performed so impressively in the Asian qualifiers, when they saw off world champion Japan, amongst others, Australia are regarded as serious medal prospects at the Brazilian games.
In the group stages the Matildas are pitted against Canada, European powerhouse Germany and Zimbabwe.
While in Ballarat the team will do plenty of promotional work to build on the strong image they have generated with some impressive results over the past year in high level tournaments, including the World Cup. Australia reached the last eight in that tournament in Canada, only bowing out to Japan, who went on to make the final.
The coaching staff were not pleased last week when reports emerged of The Matildas losing 7-0 to a junior Newcastle Jets Under 15 boys team, officials stressing that the women often played similar training matches against young men where they experimented with tactics and players. Losing to faster, stronger, fitter and more powerful teenage boys was not something they were unfamiliar with in similar circumstances.
