Tom Sermanni: The squad "picked itself" | Squad Announcement Talking Points ?️

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Interim Head Coach Tom Sermanni said that his first squad after returning to the helm of the CommBank Matildas “picked itself,” and that he was looking forward to taking charge of the team for the upcoming international window.

The CommBank Matildas will take on Switzerland and Germany in Europe on the 26th and 29th of October respectively.

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“Under the circumstances, picking this squad was quite straightforward,” Sermanni said. “The team has obviously come off an Olympics, so the base of the squad was there.”

“Selecting domestic players was challenging because they’ve been out of season – some of them haven’t played for almost three or four months.

“In essence, the squad in some ways almost picked itself, under these circumstances.”

He touched on the need to advance the squad and playing style moving forward, with one eye on the team’s next major tournament, the AFC Asian Cup 2026™.

“There’s a bit of a reset,” he explained.

“The Olympic campaign didn’t quite go as everyone hoped it would, so I think there’s a couple of things that are critical going forward.

“The first thing is that this is the start of the preparation for the Asian Cup. Although that’s 2026, that’s going to come around in the blink of an eye.

“The second thing is to get the team back focused on football again, and get back to what makes the Matildas team a success, and what we need to do going forward to be successful.”

Sermanni touched on a few things that would be important in order to achieve that reset.

“Firstly – if you go back historically with the Matildas, the team has reached a stage where – when they go out on the world stage – the expectation is that we can beat anybody and everybody on a particular day,” he said, “and that’s important to get back to that mindset.”

“The other thing that is important is that – for us to continue to play the way that the Matildas want to play, which is dynamic, attacking kind of football – we need to be a far more pragmatic team when it comes to the highest level.

“The Matildas have become a phenomenon in the last two years, and with that brings a lot of external distractions. One of my key roles is to keep those external distractions away from the team… we really get back focused on the football, and the type of football that’s going to make us successful.”

For the past 12 years, since leaving his post as CommBank Matildas coach all the way back in 2012, Sermanni has kept tabs on the team as a fan. He said that he was excited now to see the inner workings of the squad and be able to stamp his influence on the side.

While his role is in an interim capacity, he explained that it didn’t change the way that he went about things, with full control over team selection as well as making the adjustments that he would make in any circumstance.

“There’s always lots of work to be done, but the team is close,” he answered when asked what tweaks would be needed to be successful at the home AFC Asian Cup in 2026.

“The team, when it goes out and plays in games, is very competitive. This is a very high-quality team.

“It’s just that we need to focus on some things that I think are going to make a difference to go from being that competitive team who’s nearly there, to a team that actually gets across the line and starts winning things.”

As well as being full of familiar faces, the squad features two uncapped players in 18-year-old midfielder Daniela Galic and 19-year-old goalkeeper Chloe Lincoln.

Chloe Lincoln (L) during the U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup 2024 & Daniela Galic (R) during the U-20 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
Chloe Lincoln (L) during the U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup 2024 & Daniela Galic (R) during the U-20 AFC Women's Asian Cup.

“I’ve known and seen Daniela play over the last two or three years,” he began, “and she’s always a player that’s had great potential.”

“She’s a player that can be creative. She can score goals. She’s got real international qualities about her.

“[Chloe] has got great potential to be an international goalkeeper, and both of them have a good bit of background now, having played in U20 World Cups, and now Daniela is playing overseas.

“Those are two players that we think will be key to the Matildas in the future, and it’s important when you get the opportunity to bring those players into a senior Matildas camp.”

In terms of what fans can expect from the CommBank Matildas under Sermanni, his message was a positive one.

“I’m hoping they’re going to expect really positive performances,” he said.

“That’s the key for us – we’ve got to get out and put in a really positive performance. What we want to do is put on a positive performance that’s going to win the games as well.

“It’s getting back to some of those fundamental things that we need to put in place to make the team successful.

“Hopefully the fans will tune in, watch it late at night or early in the morning, and we’ll see two really good, strong performances.”

COMMBANK MATILDAS | OCTOBER 2024 INTERNATIONALS

Switzerland v CommBank Matildas
Date: Friday, 25 October 2024 (local) / Saturday, 26 October (AEDT)
Kick-off: 8.00pm CET (local) / 5.00am (AEDT)
Venue: Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich
Broadcast: Paramount+
Tickets: Ticketmaster (Switzerland)

Germany v CommBank Matildas
Date: Monday, 28 October 2024 (local) / Tuesday, 29 October (AEDT)
Kick-off: 6.10pm CET (local) / 4.10am (AEDT)
Venue: Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena, Duisburg
Broadcast: Paramount+
Tickets: DFB Ticket Portal