Above: Caitlin Foord talking to the media. Image: Football Australia.
By Genevieve Henry (27/11/25).
Ahead of their first friendly against New Zealand, Matilda’s forward Caitlin Foord spoke to the press about the importance of this international window and what the team expects from their trans-Tasman rivals.
“I always look forward to coming into camp, putting on the green and gold.” Training in 36 degree weather, it’s an adjustment for some of the team – especially those who have been playing over in Europe for years now. “We’re most definitely not used to it like we used to be,” Foord said. “We’ve all acclimatised to the cold, I think.”
Australia will take on New Zealand on Friday evening on the Central Coast. “We enjoy being here, and love playing at [Central Coast] stadium. I think it’s one of the nicest to look at here in Australia, with the palm trees and the water in the background. It’s a great spot, and we’re looking forward to it.”
In their last two games of Asian Cup preparations, the Matildas are hoping to find identity as a team. “They’re super important for us, ” Foord said. “We want to get as much out of them as possible and that includes two wins.”
Although it doesn’t feel quite near enough yet, the coaching staff will have to be making big decisions before March. Luckily, although these may be the last international windows for a while, there’s still a lot of club football to play.
“Individually, we’ll be prepping as well to be in the best form we can coming into the tournament.”
As an attacking unit, the Matildas have a lot of options, all of whom will be pushing to be in the best form at their respective clubs.
“The more girls scoring and creating goals, the more goals for us. I think it’s nice to not have it just pressure on one player or two players,” Foord said. “Anyone in the team can score and it’s going to be super helpful going into the Asian Cup.”
On her teammate Sam Kerr – who missed a few games for Chelsea – Foord said, “she’s here and she’s been part of training. She looks fine to me. But at the end of the day, it’s Joe’s decision who steps on the field.”
Foord said she is expecting New Zealand to defend tight with man-to-man marking. Australia certainly has the historical edge over the Kiwis, but will need to find solutions in their era of rediscovering their style under a new coach.
“It will be difficult and we have to kind of create our own space,” Foord said. “We’ve seen they can score goals as well, so we have to be tight at the back and hopefully just create a lot more than what they can.”
The Matildas are looking to find the combinations, personnel, and tactics that will work going forward.“After the buzz of the World Cup and us making it to the semifinals and being so close, we do want to go that step further and to have an opportunity to do it again here in Australia.”
“We’ve gotten a bit of a second chance at it with this tournament coming up and we don’t want to leave any stone unturned,” Foord said. “The goal is to be champions at the end of it, but we’ll just be taking it game by game.”
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