“WHEN WE PLAY that opening game in the World Cup, on home soil and we step on that pitch, the opposition is not just playing against 11 players and a coach on the sideline and some game changer; they are playing against every single person in that stadium believing that we can win. Every single person.”
- Tony Gustavsson, Matildas: The World At Our Feet, Disney+
When Australia manager Tony Gustavsson made those comments, the draw for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup was yet to be made, but now we know: Ireland are the Matildas’ first opponents at their home World Cup. The challenge is theirs to face.
Ireland will make their major tournament debut in front of a Sydney sell-out. The 42,500-capacity Sydney Football Stadium was originally meant to host the Group B opener, but earlier this year, it was moved to Stadium Australia due to the demand for tickets.
The Matildas’ popularity in Australia and the huge Irish diaspora Down Under ultimately paved the way for the switch. The home of the 2000 Olympic Games — where Sonia O’Sullivan took home a silver medal — has a capacity of 81,500 and will also stage the final on 20 August.
Fifa say its capacity is 75,784 for tomorrow night.
It’s more than ten times Ireland’s record home attendance of 7,633 — set in the Tallaght Stadium send-off defeat to France — while captain Katie McCabe is the only player to have played for close to 80,000-plus fans.
She led Arsenal out to a record attendance of 60,063 at their Champions League semi-final at the Emirates in May.
“It’s going to be different,” McCabe told The 42 earlier in the summer. “It’ll be new for a couple. I’m sure Vera has something [planned]. She’s always very organised with that sort of stuff.”
It’s an entirely new experience for practically everyone, and preparations are understood to be on an individual basis. There is no specific professional in camp to help ready the players for that element, but the FAI provide access and assistance if necessary.
It’s been an ongoing point of conversation with the players in media interviews in recent weeks and months. Back in February, Ruesha Littlejohn spoke about different tools, including sports psychologists, they could use to help prepare.
“Everyone is different,” the midfielder explained.
“Some people thrive and some people might crumble so it’s important we know how to deal with that in the moment, so we know the triggers to look out for, how to calm ourselves down, different methods you can use. It’s about not letting the nerves take over.”
McCabe, Quinn and Niamh Fahey are among those to have played in FA Cup finals at Wembley, with crowds ranging from 30,000 to 40,000, while most were involved for the 2019 friendly against USA in front of 37,040 at the Rose Bowl.
Last April’s showdowns Stateside were both around the 20,000-mark, while for some like Chloe Mustaki, the biggest attendance she played in front of was over 12,000: an almost capacity crowd at Gamla Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, last April for the monumental draw with Sweden.
“I don’t think I have an idea of how insane it is going to be,” the Bristol City player said last week, noting that it could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It’s about embracing the occasion and rising to the challenge.
But playing the game, not the occasion.
Focus on the job at hand, and block everything else out.
All the clichés.
“Visualisation is a huge tool,” Marissa Sheva, who has played in front of 25,000 in the NWSL, explained.
“Unless you’ve done it before, there’s no way to replicate playing in front of 80,000 people. I’ve been working on that with my sports psych, just trying to find ways to minimise the shock factor of that.
“At the end of the day, it’s 11-v-11, we know what we need to do. I mean 80,000 people is a lot but I think that we’re more than capable. We’ve shown that we’re a very resilient group and we know things don’t really rattle us.”
Then there’s Denise O’Sullivan, who enthused last week that “for me, the more that’s in that stadium, the better. We want to be playing in those games.”
Most players are leaning on one another in the build-up — and their own experiences through the years.
“I suppose all you can do is take some of the past situations in,” Louise Quinn told The 42 a few weeks back.
“A lot of the US games, you had a lot of people but nowhere near 80,000. The pressure of the Scotland game, it might have that sort of similar feeling. I just think once you’re in there – even in smaller stadiums when they’re a bit more full, the noise is still electric but just when you get there, you can somehow drown it out.
“I need to try learn or figure out some new methods. Just keep calm, go through the same processes that you do for any game — especially for those real high pressure situations. For me, it’s more of the pressure of the game and not the crowd.
“If they weren’t here, they’d hopefully be watching it on the TV.”
“Not all of them have experienced it either,” she also noted, with a nod to Australia.
They beat France 1-0 in front of a record crowd of 50,629 at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium last Friday. Another one awaits in Sydney, the Irish expected to be loud and proud.
“In Croke Park, it’s something that local men and women are doing for their counties regularly,” Quinn added.
“We have to be ready.”
Time will tell.