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Clare Polkinghorne: FIFA Women's World Cup

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

by
Rewind to May 2010. The Matildas are up against a formidable Japanese side in the Semi-final of the Asian Cup, doubling as World Cup qualification. For 90 minutes we defend out of our skin. And with a goal just before half-time, we were delighted to go into the break one goal up. With less then 40% of possession we, the Matildas, qualified for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany.

Fast-forward to now, the day the Matildas embark on our first World Cup match against Brazil. The start of a tournament that we have been working towards since winning the semi-final (and grand-final) of the Asian Cup. It has been a journey to remember thus far, and this is just the beginning.

We arrived in Germany two weeks ago, for a camp in a little town called Gottingen. There, we were able to get settled into life in Germany and begin sharpening up for our first world cup game. The town came out in numbers to support us and would wish us well while we were out and about seeing the sites of the town. We had two friendly internationals to get things going. First we beat Mexico in a scrappy encounter but then improved our performance in a win against England. Both games provided an opportunity to try new things and to identify things we need to improve on. As a team we have learned a lot from the games and now go into the world cup full of confidence in each other and in ourselves.

From Gottingen, we then moved to our first World Cup hotel in Dusseldorf. This is when it all started to sink in for me that the World Cup was just around the corner. Our training sessions have been sharp and we are all looking fit. I cannot wait to get out and play our first game. It has been a long time coming.

The World Cup started a couple of days ago and watching the games on TV has unleashed the nerves and I cannot wait to see how we match the Brazilians. It is a big game for us but regardless of the result we need to put in a good performance. We have three games to qualify for the quarters and it all starts with Brazil. The stage is set for us. There will be a massive crowd in a great stadium, in front of family and friends. This is where all our hard work pays off. Round One is sure to be a cracker and will hopefully set the tone for the rest of our world cup campaign.

The game will be broadcast tonight (June 30) on SBS at 2am.