by Ben Gilby (29/8/24)
Above: Alicia Woods speaking from Bogotá earlier today. Image: Football Australia.
The Young Matildas are making their final preparations in the Colombian capital Bogotá ahead of their opening U20 World Cup match on Saturday against the host nation with duo Alicia Woods and Chloe Lincoln in a confident mood as they spoke earlier today.
“It’s pretty unreal to be honest!” the Brisbane Roar midfielder exclaimed when asked about her experiences so far after 10 days in South America. “The experience in general has been unmatched….It’s taken over my whole life for the last few months.”
Speaking about her footballing journey that has taken her from Queensland to Bogotá, Woods said: “It started when I was five, I played with a few mates with my local team, I played with the boys for 10 years growing up. I was always with the neighbours kicking the ball on the oval and I just fell in love with it. I then made my way in women’s football playing with Peninsula Power (in the NPLW Queensland) for a few years, and now Brisbane Roar.”
The midfielder is eternally grateful to the Roar for helping to put her in the position to improve her game to the extent that she is part of Australia’s U20 World Cup squad.
“They gave me a shot that I’ve been asking for. I’ve been working for so many years, it felt like forever. To finally get that shot and get a few games under my belt – it’s just exploded since then.
“It’s definitely a big leap from (NPLW) club football to the A-League but being in that environment and training with those girls like Tameka Yallop and Sharn Freier…was an experience and has helped me to grow into the player that I think I am becoming.”
Yallop, as a fellow midfielder has been a particular key person in Woods’ development, despite the Roar youngster admitting she was so much in awe of the Matildas legend at first.
“I was too scared to go up and say ‘hello’ to her, but as soon as I got the opportunity to start and play in midfield alongside her, she has been so much help and been guiding me through it, coaching me, just a massive role model for me.”
Reflecting on her first impressions on coming into the camp and how things now are 10 days on, Woods laughed: “I wasn’t expecting everyone to be so fit. Everyone is very fit and can run for miles.
“There’s a very physical side to the game which I probably wasn’t used to, but it’s been a lot more intense and a lot more demanding, but that’s a good thing. It’s going to be a big change going back to Brisbane just knowing what I am capable of now compared to last season. The last few months, I feel this environment has helped me so much.”
With the Young Matildas now two days away from their opening group game against the host nation Colombia, the midfielder feels the squad are in the right place.
“The team is bonding well…we are all starting to understand each other and our goals, and what we want to get out of the tournament and I think it’s looking like it’s shaping up well.”
With group stage fixtures against Colombia, Mexico, and Cameroon over the next eight days, Woods faces a range of new, unique challenges, but her attitude is simply ‘bring it on!’
“I’m really looking forward to the different styles, and the different aspects of their games and different countries’ tastes for football, and experiencing it here in Colombia – how much they love the sport and how much they get behind it – has been eye-opening.”
Chloe Lincoln is on the brink of playing in her second U20 World Cup, but admits that this one comes with one particularly unique challenge – altitude.
“We’ve had this two-year journey which has been amazing, but it’s been so good these last two weeks as a group, getting used to the altitude of course and we’re feeling really excited for the game now,” said Western United’s new signing.
“It’s just been all about getting used to the conditions. We’ve been pretty fortunate being here for the amount of time we have and so it’s meant getting more and more exposure and getting used to it.
“I think it’s definitely not easy! Being able to do it altogether, everybody’s in the same boat at the end of the day. The struggle is definitely real, but we’ve been able to prepare well and everyone’s been saying it’s getting easier and easier each day.
“Breathing just becomes pretty difficult. We’ve had a lot of preparation meetings about what we were going to be exposed to. I’m a bit more tired than usual. I think it’s about 20-30% performance deficit until you can adapt your body, but it’s been good to get that exposure now so we’re ready for the opening game…The ball moves differently due to altitude. That’s been one thing that takes a while to get used to.”
However, one major advantage that Lincoln does have is the first-hand experience of what it’s like to face the host nation in the opening game – last time round it was Costa Rica, this time Colombia. The volume of feverish support among a packed crowd for your opponents is not something many of these Young Matildas players would have experienced before.
“We are so lucky that we get to play the host nation two tournaments in a row and being the opening game of the World Cup. One thing that was definitely a factor in the Costa Rica game was the importance of the crowd and I think that will be another similar experience versing Colombia…we’ve been told it’s close to capacity or will be sold out (the Estadio El Campin has a 39,000 capacity – see image further up this article). It’s very exciting, a lot of us will not have played in front of a crowd this big before, so it will definitely be a new challenge.”
Photography from Young Matildas training supplied to Impetus by Football Australia:
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