{"id":383330,"date":"2024-04-10T04:32:20","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T04:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=383330"},"modified":"2024-04-10T06:03:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T06:03:40","slug":"former-matilda-calls-for-bolters-olympic-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=383330","title":{"rendered":"Former Matilda calls for bolter's Olympic selection"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Paris Olympics<\/a> less than three months away and only two more national team camps scheduled, questions remain unanswered as to who will be named in Tony Gustavsson's final 18 player squad.<\/p>\n

With eight players currently sidelined with injuries, including captain Sam Kerr, and more recently star midfielder Katrina Gorry, former Matildas<\/a> player Grace Gill has made her call on potential candidates for the starting Olympic line-up.<\/p>\n

Twenty-four-year-old Kaitlin Torpey, who played her third game in the green and gold jersey against Mexico on Wednesday, was Gill's surprise pick to make the cut in Gustavsson's squad, claiming the rising star's athletic ability and versatility is essential for the Matildas' campaign.<\/p>\n

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"We need to think about this 18-player squad – when you have that versatility and \ufeffathleticism with the ability to turn around, three to four days between games," Gill said on the Channel 10 broadcast.<\/p>\n

"You need players who can back up very quickly. In my eyes, Kaitlin Torpey does that.<\/p>\n

"I think the versatility (of Torpey) is no surprise \ufeffto me. This hasn't come from nowhere. She's been performing for some time now in the A-League women's, but she is also just hitting her maturity as a player.<\/p>\n

"She's always been a great athlete but now she's just proving it at a level above."<\/p>\n

\"Matilda's<\/p>\n

Respected commentator Andy Harper revealed he was sceptical about the possibility of Torpey getting a call up to the Olympic team following the Matildas' recent win in Uzbekistan<\/a>, but was impressed with her continued improvement against Mexico.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI think she was magnificent today, as close to flawless," he said.<\/p>\n

"I was a lot less upbeat about the probability (of Torpey \ufeffgetting a spot in the Olympics squad) because of the competition for places. This performance against Mexico… I just thought as an understudy to \ufeffSteph Catley, what a job she did.<\/p>\n

"She believes she needs to be there. Her mentality carried her through and her ability to run is incredible."<\/p>\n

\"Caitlin<\/p>\n

Harper and Gill noted the instrumental performance of star forward Caitlin Foord<\/a> in the side's 2-0 victory in San Antoni, setting up the opening goal in the ninth minute of their international friendly.<\/p>\n

"Caitlin Foord is the most important player on the team. She wins us games," Harper said.<\/p>\n

"She has been the ingredient that separates the Matildas from losses for the past 24 months now."<\/p>\n

Gill said: "The work she does for the team is insurmountable \ufefffor the Matildas team.<\/p>\n

"When we talk about the 18, (Caitlin Foord) is the first name on that list.\ufeff"\ufeff<\/p>\n

Speaking after the game, coach Gustavsson said the Matildas' performance against Mexico was "exactly what [they] needed to prepare for the Olympics", with new combinations and debutants creating a dominant win.<\/p>\n

"This is exactly what we needed to prepare for the Olympics, to learn about ourselves," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Tony<\/p>\n

"I said after the Uzbekistan game that that was one of the better games we've ever played in terms of our attacking game and we've said let's test that in even a higher ranked opposition and see if we can do it.<\/p>\n

"If you look at some of the core players from the World Cup starting line up they weren't here. We need to fill that spine, that engine, the heart in the team – so that's one test. And then you add another five to seven players being unavailable, it really tests the depth of the roster."<\/p>\n

The Matildas \ufeffwill begin their Olympic campaign in Paris on July 26, taking on Germany, Zambia and the United States in the group stages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the Paris Olympics less than three months away and only two more national team camps scheduled, questions remain unanswered as to who will be […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383332,"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\/383330"}],"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=383330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":383336,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383330\/revisions\/383336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/383332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=383330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=383330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=383330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}