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Matildas hit by brutal development as football draw announced for Paris Olympics

Tony Gustavsson and the team found out their opponents for the Olympics.

riley morgan
Sports Reporter
·4-min read

The Matildas will face a tough task to advance out of Group B stage at the Paris Olympics having drawn two dangerous opponents. Tony Gustavsson and the players were eagerly waiting to see who they would draw in Paris later this year at the Olympics with a tough pool of teams competing.

And the Matildas will have to navigate an extremely strong group with the USA, Germany and either Morocco or Zambia. Both the USA and Germany are ranked above the World No.12 Aussies. World No.4 USA recently bounced back from a disappointing World Cup campaign to defeat Canada and then Brazil in the final to win the 2024 Concacaf tournament.

Tony Gustavsson watches on and Matildas star Mary Fowler celebrates.
The Matildas will face a tough group at the Paris Olympics having been drawn against the USA and Germany. (Getty Images)

The Matildas have only ever defeated USA once in 33 meetings. Their last meeting was at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medal playoff where the USA won 4-3. Paris will mark the fifth Olympic Games for the Matildas having featured in 2000, 2004, 2016 and 2020. Fourth place at the Tokyo Olympics is their best ever finish.

The World Cup semi-finalists qualified for Paris after defeating Uzbekistan 13-0 on aggregate last month. Matildas vice-captain Emily Van Egmond was not worried about Australia's tough draw having hailed the strength of women's football around the world.

"We've seen women's football is growing and the Olympics is a super competitive tournament...It's all about focusing on us with the challenge that lies ahead," she said on Thursday morning after the draw. When asked about the challenges of facing Germany and the USA, Van Egmond reiterated how hard it is to qualify for some nations and that any group was going to be difficult.

"I think you saw our hard it was for the European teams to qualify with England and Sweden missing out. For us, it is just about focusing on ourselves," she added. England made the 2023 World Cup final, but failed to qualify for the Olympics.

Sweden defeated Australia in the third place playoff at the 2023 World Cup, but also failed to qualify for the Olympics. It will be staged across several venues in France including Paris, Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Saint-Etienne and Lyon.

Matildas to tackle Olympics without Sam Kerr

While Australia will still fancy their chances of causing an upset in their group, they will most likely have to do it without forward Sam Kerr. The Chelsea and Matildas superstar tore her ACL during training earlier this year and is expected to miss around nine months. This almost certainly rules her out of the Olympics.

This is a huge blow for the Matildas with Kerr the all-time leading goal scorer for her country. The Chelsea forward finished runner-up in the Ballon d'or last year and will be hard to replace.

Sam Kerr reacts.
Sam Kerr (pictured) will most likely not feature for the Matildas at the Paris Olypics.

Fortunately, a number of young superstars emerged at lat year's World Cup with Mary Fowler set to once again show her class in Paris. The Olympics football tournament will be held across several venues in France including Paris, Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Saint-Etienne and Lyon.

Germany v Australia

Date: 25 July 2024 (local) / 26 July 2024 (AEST)

Kick-off: 7.00pm (local) / 3.00am AEST

Venue: Stade de Marseille, Marseille, France

Australia v Zambia / Morocco

Date: 28 July 2024 (local) / 29 July 2024 (AEST)

Kick-off: 7.00pm (local) / 3.00am AEST

Venue: Stade de Nice, Nice, France

Australia v United States

Date: 31 July 2024 (local) / 1 August 2024 (AEST)

Kick-off: 7.00pm (local) / 3.00am AEST

Venue: Stade de Marseille, Marseille, France