Defender Clare Hunt said that the CommBank Matildas 1-1 draw with Switzerland was a “good start” to their transition into a new cycle.
“We’re in a bit of a transition period,” she explained.
“We’ve had new coaching staff come in. We’ve had a few young players come in as well. For us, it’s a good start to this friendly series.
“We were quite effective moving forward quickly and creating transition moments, and that’s where our goal came from.
“Against Germany, we can continue to do that, but we need to be a bit more secure at the back and organised defensively better in this next game.”
Hunt emphasised the importance of every game that the squad has together as they prepare for the AFC Asian Cup 2026™.
“Every game that we have together is great preparation,” she said.
“Moving forward, we really need to use these games to our advantage. Find things that work for us, recognise things that don’t, and just continue to build our style of play.”
Looking ahead to the match against Germany, Hunt emphasised the importance of playing to Australia’s strengths.
“Germany are a great squad, and they had a wonderful result against England [4-3 on Saturday morning AEDT],” she said.
“We know the competition will be tough, but if we create good transition moments moving forward, take our chances in front of goal and organise defensively, then I think we have a shot.”
The team took on Germany at the Olympic Games only three months ago. Hunt said that they will take on what they learned from that game to try and get a positive result this time.
“We can always learn from opposition,” she said.
“We only played them three months ago, so I don’t think their style of play has changed considerably, and they’re quite a strong squad.
“We need to use the clips we have from the Olympics, and their match last night, take that into our tactical meetings, and move forward from there.”
Hunt explained that the defensive unit had a clear idea of what they needed to do to improve from the game against Switzerland.
“Defensively, just organising our shape early, and not getting caught in transition moments – that’s where they were quite effective last night against England,” she said.
“Organising defensively and clearing the ball in our box – we need to be efficient at that – and at creating moments moving forward.”
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