{"id":322786,"date":"2023-08-10T21:10:21","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T21:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=322786"},"modified":"2023-08-10T23:00:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T23:00:48","slug":"how-world-class-matilda-is-proving-major-aussie-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=322786","title":{"rendered":"How 'world-class' Matilda is proving major Aussie problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former England international and Arsenal great Ian Wright said he "shudders to think" of the talent that could be produced if football<\/a> was funded properly in Australia.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Tuesday at the launch of a new grassroots football program in western Sydney, Wright pointed to the breakout FIFA Women's World Cup<\/a> Kyra Cooney-Cross is enjoying as proof of where Australian football could be.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old has starred for the Matildas<\/a> in their first four matches, and has reportedly attracted attention from some of the biggest clubs in European football.<\/p>\n

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\"Kyra<\/p>\n

"She could go as far as she wants," Wright told media including Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"We saw a list of teams that want her \u2026 Arsenal is one of them, Juventus, we're talking about somebody (whose) ability, awareness, she's the next one off the block in respect of one of your world-class players."<\/p>\n

Born in Brisbane, Cooney-Cross spent her early teens playing in Ballarat, before she was picked by the Melbourne Victory to play in their inaugural W-League (now A-League Women) side in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"Matildas<\/a><\/p>\n

She famously won the Victory the 2021 W-League grand final by scoring directly from a corner kick in the 120th minute to down defending champions Sydney FC 1-0.<\/p>\n

In March last year, only weeks after her 20th birthday, she and Matildas teammate Courtney Nevin transferred to Hammarby IF to play in the Swedish Damallsvenskan.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"She's come out of an Australian system which is\u00a0 \u2026 you wouldn't say it's the same as something like England or in Europe," Wright said, choosing his words carefully.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/IanWright0\/status\/1685972561069539328<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/IanWright0\/status\/1685996682566397952<\/a><\/p>\n

"A lot of these unbelievable players have to leave here very early to go and get football, and they've got no compunction in doing that.<\/p>\n

"You kind of shudder to think what would happen if you\u00a0can get those girls in a place where you can really develop them, because (the talent) is obviously here."<\/p>\n

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed a public holiday should the Matildas go all the way, but former skipper Melissa Barbieri said the resources should instead be focused on better funding women's football<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TV<\/p>\n

"The legacy of this World Cup should not be a public holiday if we win the thing," she wrote in a column for Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"It needs to be more funding for the game. Equal to other sports. Equal to other codes. A fairer distribution of the kitty."<\/p>\n

The private sector is taking steps to make that a reality. Wright was speaking on Tuesday at the PCYC Auburn in Lidcombe, where a new community football pitch emblazoned with Sam Kerr artwork was launched in partnership with EA Sports' FC Futures program.<\/p>\n

\"Mighty<\/p>\n

EA Sports, the publisher of the wildly-successful FIFA series of video games, also announced it would expand its FC Fixtures initiative with a new 12-month girls' grassroots program, which feature training camps in conjunction with the Western Sydney Wanderers across the state.<\/p>\n

"You want to inspire people to play, and I think, like we saw in the Euros in England, you give people no choice when you are successful," Wright said.<\/p>\n

"They're going to inspire a nation to play, and [to nurture] six, seven world-class [Matildas] players without the kind of infrastructure we've got in Europe, it's amazing."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former England international and Arsenal great Ian Wright said he "shudders to think" of the talent that could be produced if football was funded properly […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":322788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322786"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=322786"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322791,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322786\/revisions\/322791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/322788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=322786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=322786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=322786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}