Experienced CommBank Matildas midfielder Emily van Egmond said that the team was beginning to find their feet in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026™ after their 4-0 victory over IR Iran on Thursday evening.
Van Egmond was directly involved in two of the four goals that the team scored in a convincing performance at Gold Coast Stadium.
“We knew that first game against the Philippines was going to be a challenge,” she said.
“We obviously haven't been together for a while now, so we had to get the relationships going again and the understanding of how we want to play our football. Tonight, I thought - especially in the first half - we demonstrated that quite well.
“In the second half, they made it difficult for us. The breakup of play stopped the momentum and the rhythm for us. But again, to get four goals is important in this tournament, and on a personal note, I'm happy to contribute in any way I can.
“We're slowly starting to find our feet. We’ve now got a tough game against Korea Republic, but again, we'll be focusing ourselves and how we want to play and how we want to do things. We're hoping to go out there and have another dominant performance.”
With 167 appearances for the national team under her belt, van Egmond has ample experience in major tournaments and understands what it means to grow into the competition and peak at the right time.
She said that the whole 26-player squad would have a role to play if Australia are to lift the trophy at the end of the month.
“We’re just taking it one game at a time, and you can see with each game we're starting to get better and better, and the understanding of different player relationships and their positioning on the field is coming to fruition,” she said.
“The further you go in, you rely heavily on your whole squad. Getting that understanding for all of us to be out on the training paddock is equally as important as the game time we're getting together.
“We believe in ourselves, taking the confidence from the first two games. Going to the third one, hopefully, we put the group stage to bed on top.”
There is a quick turnaround for the group ahead of their game against Korea Republic on Sunday evening that will decide the final standings in Group A. Van Egmond explained that the emphasis now is on recovery ahead of the all-important match in Sydney.
“We travel tomorrow, so I think recovery is going to be massive for us,” she said.
“We get to Sydney. We recover. We do the things that we need to do to make sure that we're ready to go against Korea Republic, because it's going to be a challenge for us, for sure.”
AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026™
CommBank Matildas 1 v 0 Philippines
Date: Sunday, 1 March 2026
IR Iran 0 v CommBank Matildas 4
Date: Thursday, 5 March 2026
CommBank Matildas v Korea Republic
Date: Sunday, 8 March 2026
Venue: Stadium Australia, Sydney
Time: 8:00pm AEDT
Broadcast: Network 10, 10 Play and Paramount+
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