Matildas to swing changes for United States clash

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Matildas to swing changes for United States clash

Matildas interim coach Tom Sermanni has promised changes to his starting line-up as he eyes a response against the United States.

But he won’t respond to a 4-0 thrashing from Japan in the SheBelieves Cup by throwing youngsters to the wolves against the Olympic champions in Arizona on Monday.

“Coaches often talk about wholesale changes, but when you look at it, nobody actually makes wholesale changes,” Sermanni said.

“But we’re making a few changes. We’re definitely changing the line-up and bringing a few different players in.”

Sermanni indicated some substitutes against Japan had earned starts.

That could include the likes of Wini Heatley, Holly McNamara and Charli Grant – but fresh faces will be counterbalanced by experienced heads.

“The key thing for us in this tournament is it to try and give exposure for players that are not regulars in the team. And that’s what we tend to do during the tournament,” Sermanni said.

“How much we can do that depends on a whole lot of factors, but it’s certainly our intent to get some of those younger players out there and playing in the team – whether they come off the bench, or whether they start in the team.

“At the same time, you have to look at putting out a balanced team.

“If you look back two or three years ago, when Australia put out a very inexperienced team against Spain (losing 7-0), I don’t think that was a really valuable exercise at the time.

“Getting the right mix is what’s really important. Because you don’t just want to throw young players in if that mix isn’t right, because you’re kind of exposing them and you’re potentially doing them some damage at the same time.”

US coach Emma Hayes fielded some younger players in a 2-0 win against Colombia.

But Sermanni was acutely aware of the Americans’ depth.

“We’ve got to get lots of things right. The first thing is we need to be ready to go out there and compete and deal with their intensity and their quality of play,” Sermanni said.

“The thing that the US has done now is they built up not just a starting team, but a real quality squad, where even if they have five or six key players missing, they still get an outstanding team.

“They’re a very formidable team at the moment. So the first thing in the first and foremost thing, is that we need to go and compete – that’s that’s basically what we need to do.

“Then if we do that, we need to then have the confidence to play the kind of football that we’re capable of.”

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