Matildas to shut up shop against England

Posted June 22, 2011 14:09:00

Matildas captain Melissa Barbieri is calling for a "super strong" defensive display in Australia's final pre-World Cup hit-out against England.

The game in Wolfsburg on Friday morning (AEST) represents coach Tom Sermanni's last opportunity to look at his line-up before Australia's opening women's World Cup clash with number three-ranked Brazil on June 30 in Moenchengladbach.

Australia goes into the England clash buoyed by a rousing come-from-behind 3-2 win over Mexico in its other warm-up match earlier this week.

"It was definitely something that we can build on," goalkeeper Barbieri said from Germany.

"As a playing group we don't like to go 2-0 down, so it's just one of those things that we have to work on.

"Hopefully in the game against England, we will be super strong in the backline and then create chances from there."

Ranked tenth in the world, one place above Australia, England has shown good form recently.

It has won its last three matches, including a 2-1 victory over world number one USA in early April.

While Australia has seven teenagers in its squad, England's party averages 49 caps per player.

"They've got a very experienced team and they are quite well prepared," Barbieri said.

"They've been together a long time and they are probably looking to cement a position in this World Cup as of one of the frontrunners in the world.

"A lot of players from overseas have said that they look very sharp and they are a well-oiled machine at the moment having beaten the US."

Australia's women have not played England since September 2003, when the Matildas lost 1-0 away from home.

"We went 1-0 down in like 14 seconds, and it was one to forget I think," said Barbieri, who was on the bench that day.

"They have beaten us in the past so they might be thinking that we are easybeats this time round with the younger team, so hopefully we can surprise them."

Barbieri said Mexico and England had been chosen by Sermanni as World Cup warm-up opponents because they possessed the same kind of physicality as two of the Matildas' World Cup group rivals, Brazil and Norway.

Australia is also grouped with Equatorial Guinea in Group D.

- AAP

Tags: sport, football, australia, germany, england

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/22/3250656.htm

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