Hometown hero Charli Grant started for the CommBank Matildas for the first time in 2024 against China PR, as the team rescued a late 1-1 draw in game one of the ‘Til It’s Done Farewell Series.
The full-back spoke after the game about her pride in playing for the national team in front of friends and family in Adelaide – the city she was born and raised, and started her top-flight club career with Adelaide United in 2018.
“It’s so special to play here in front of my home crowd,” she exclaimed, “it’s something I’ve always dreamed of.
“To do it at Adelaide Oval, a stadium where I watched so many different sports play at - it’s really special to have all my friends and family in the crowd. I feel honoured and privileged to represent my country but especially do so in my hometown.”
The growing popularity of the CommBank Matildas has meant a generation of youngsters aspire to be the stars they see on the pitch.
Those who came to the game on Friday night see themselves in Grant – and she hopes one day some of them will follow in her footsteps.
“This is where I grew up,” she continued, “This is where I fell in love with the game. I’m seeing people with signs saying they go to my primary school. So to see that I’m inspiring the younger generation is incredible, and I hope that there’s a future ‘Tilly’ here in Adelaide.”
In terms of the game itself, Grant said it was a “relief” to secure the late equaliser against a stern opposition in China.
“I think that just shows our never say die attitude,” she said. “We take confidence from that, we want to build from this game, dissect it and improve from there.
“China were a very well-organised team and really hard to break down, but I think that [style of play] was important for us to face leading into the Olympics, because we haven’t faced a team like that for a while. We can really develop from here.”
Match two will be held in Sydney on Monday evening. The 22-year-old outlined that there was plenty to take with them into the match in Sydney.
“It’s just about breaking down their press and staying patient,” she stated.
“We’ve just got to stay confident in our ability. I feel like we had some really good patches, so we’ll dissect that and get confidence out of the positive things we did.”
Match Two
CommBank Matildas v China PR
Date: Monday, 3 June 2024
Kick-off: 7:40pm AEST
Venue: Accor Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales
Broadcast: 10, 10 Bold (PER), 10 Play and Paramount+