My colleague Joey Lynch has pointed out a bit of shared history for the two coaches tonight, at South Melbourne FC.
Best of luck to both Joe Montemurro and Sasa Kolman tonight in Perth as the Matildas take on Slovenia.Both coaches have a strong connection to our club. Joe served as Senior Assistant Coach, U20 Championship-winning Coach, and Technical Director, while Sasa played a key role in…pic.twitter.com/rMbeN0r2xI
Chidiac had a quick post-warm-up chat with Paramount, she says she didn’t really have benchmarks for herself coming back into the squad.
I wanted to come in as myself as much as possible. Coming off a strong season with Victory, I want to implement that with the team and take any opportunity I can get.
[Slovenia] are a brave team on an attack and counter-attack side, but we will definitely bring it to them.
For Australia, Alex Chidiac and Emily Gielnik are straight back into the starting XI, and Montemurro has given Teagan Micah her 7th start in a row in goal despite Mackenzie Arnold being back from injury.
Here’s the rest of the squad:
Slovenia XI:Zala Mersnik; Lana Golob, Sara Agrez, Kaja Korosec, Dominika Conc, Lara Prasnikar, Spela Kolbl, Sara Makovec, Kaja Erzen, Zara Kramzar, Maja Sternad
(Pending nicely designed graphic tweet…)
Australia XI:
STARTING XI 🗒Joe Montemurro's first line-up is IN! Here's how we start for our game against Slovenia at HBF Park! 👊#Matildas#AUSvSVN#WAtheDreamStatepic.twitter.com/SwjBtXf1xV
Montemurrois speaking now before the game, saying he has “demanded” a few things of his players including keeping the ball more and being more proactive with the ball, and not going forwards “needlessly” but preparing for it better.
Now on to the coach. After 10 months of delay and speculation, the worst kept rumour in Australian football wasconfirmed at the start of June. Joe Montemurro is now tasked with reviving the Matildas mania spawned by the 2023 Women’s World Cup and developing his mixed squad of veterans and newbies into a side strong enough to be contenders for the Asian Cup title in under a year’s time.
In the second game of that series Amy Sayer was the star, scoring twice in just her second game back for the national team after her ACL injury.
It’s only been a few weeks since theMatildaslast played on home soil – in the friendly series against Argentina. I think it is worth revisiting the spectacular debut of Kahli Johnson:
G’day and welcome to our live coverage of the Matildas’ friendly match against Slovenia in Perth. This match kicks off a four-game spell for theMatildasin Western Australia over the next few weeks, in a particularly long international window. It couldn’t come at a better time for the newly appointed coach, Joe Montemurro, to get to know his squad and start preparation for the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup and beyond.
Kick-off at HBF Park is in just under an hour, where it is a cool 15C.
Feel free to share any questions or comments with me,Jo Khan, viaemail.
Can the Montemurro era start with a bang? Let’s find out!