Australian captain and FIFA Player of the Match, Willa Pearson, praised the Aussie spirit of her team after the CommBank Junior Matildas secured a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Chile in their historic FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2026™ debut.
Competing at the tournament for the first time in Australian football history, the CommBank Junior Matildas were forced to come from behind after Chile's Kiara Concha opened the scoring in the 33rd minute.
Australia responded in the second half through substitute Charlotte Bradshaw, who converted a Sakura Leong delivery in the 63rd minute to score the nation's first-ever goal at a FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup™.
"We talk about Aussie spirit all the time, and that's definitely what we showed today," the Sydney FC defender said.
"Obviously, we conceded, which is not what we wanted, but everybody got up. We had a little team talk afterwards, and we were like, right, it's time to go. It's time to start going again."
Pearson explained that a major focus of the team's preparations leading into the tournament was around regaining composure after either scoring or conceding a goal. Particularly 'winning' the following minutes.
"We talked about it in our meeting before the match. If that does happen, if they score, if we score, we also need to win the next 10 minutes. We need to make sure we don't concede again, or we score again."
"After Chile scored, we came together, and we said we need to win the next 10 minutes, and that's what we did."
The collective mindset was evident, particularly during the team's energetic pre-match huddle led by the vocal captain.
"This group is amazing. We all come together and know our roles. Everybody has a little bit extra to bring," she said.
"Today, I was really fired up. We talked about how Chile are going to come out and really want it, because from watching all their past performances, they've really wanted it and given lots of physicality."
"We knew we wanted to come out and fight like dogs and that's what I said in the huddle."
While content with the draw, Pearson acknowledged there was room to improve to secure a win, especially around set pieces.
"Set pieces are definitely an area where we think we need to execute better, and that's something that we put a big emphasis on coming into this game," she explained.
"Personally, I need to be better there. But credit to Chile, they defended very well."
Pearson also reflected on the significance of captaining Australia in its first-ever FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup appearance.
"To be able to captain your country, let alone at a World Cup, and the first one for our age group, is such an amazing opportunity to be able to have," she said.
"I'm just so proud of everybody and the way they played today. We really played like Aussies, and that's something that we all should be very, very proud of."
With the CommBank Junior Matildas now turning their attention to two-time tournament champions, Spain, Pearson believes the group can build on their opening performance as they continue their campaign.
"We played well in patches, but we need to take that and bring that confidence against Spain. We want to make sure we still have that confidence to be able to play our football."
Pearson’s performance also earned her the FIFA Player of the Match award, something the young captain admitted she hadn’t expected.
"Crazy. Definitely not what I expected, but yeah, just tried to do the best for my team and best for my country."
Next up, the CommBank Junior Matildas will take on Spain on Friday, 23 October (AEDT), with all matches shown live on Paramount+ in Australia; find out how to watch around the rest of the world.
Spain v CommBank Junior Matildas
Date: Thursday, 22 October 2026 (Local)/ Friday, 23 October 2026 (AEDT)
Time: 3.00pm (Local)/ 2.00am (AEDT)
Venue: Mohammed VI Football Academy, Salé, Morocco
Mexico v CommBank Junior Matildas
Date: Sunday, 25 October 2026 (Local)/ Monday, 26 October 2026 (AEDT)
Time: 3.00pm (Local)/ 2.00am (AEDT)
Venue: Mohammed VI Football Academy, Salé, Morocco
