Sermanni challenges young guns to step up for Matildas

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Sermanni challenges young guns to step up for Matildas

Interim Matildas coach Tom Sermanni will trust a mixture of youth and experience in his first game at the helm as he challenges young stars like Mary Fowler to take the team forward.

That could mean ***** teenager Daniela Galic earns a hotly-anticipated international debut.

Australia return to action for the first time since their horror Paris Olympics campaign when they play Switzerland at Zurich’s Stadion Letzigrund in a friendly on Saturday (5am AEDT).

For Sermanni, getting things back on track will require a perfect mix of the experienced players he debuted more than a decade ago, plus the youngsters he is getting his first look at.

“This team was was hurt by what happened at the Olympics, and they’re desperate to get back on a winning track,” Sermanni said.

“And all of that starts from the leaders and from the experienced players in this team, and we’ve got a great bunch of professionals.

“And then in amongst that obviously there’s a lot of young players coming into camp, some for the first time, some who have been in a few times.

“And it’s important for us to create both a positive environment from the senior players’ perspective, but also an environment that welcomes the young players in so that they can be in a confident frame of mind.”

Sermanni has made it clear prodigiously talented Manchester City young **** Fowler needs to be a pivotal part of the team going forward.

“Mary Fowler’s an exceptional talent. There’s two or three exceptionally talented players in this team,” he said.

“One of my key focuses is for those players – they haven’t been bit players, don’t get me wrong, they’ve been really important players in the team – to really then start to take their game to another level.”

Former Melbourne City **** Galic, 18, earned a call-up after settling in nicely at Dutch club FC Twente.

“She’s a rising talent. She ticks all the football boxes, that’s got the qualities that’s going to make a higher-level professional player,” Sermanni said said.

“I had a meeting with her (on Wednesday) and she’s settled in really well in the Netherlands. It’s been really good for her.

“That environment, actually taking her out of her comfort zone … and getting into a full-time professional environment has certainly helped her qualities and helped her development.”

Sermanni’s exceptional track record with developing young talent – like Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord and Emily van Egmond – has him confident he knows when to throw the likes of Galic into the mix.

“If you look at my history, I’m not afraid to bring young players into camps, start them in teams,” he said.

“My intent is to do that, but it needs to be at the right time in the right environment to give them the best chance to succeed, as well as making sure the team succeeds.”

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