by Alyce Collett (25/3/26)
Above: Michael Matricciani (left) and Taylor Otto (right) spoke to the media ahead of this afternoon’s big Asian Champions League clash between Melbourne City and PFC Nasaf. Photo: Alyce Collett for Impetus.
Today is a big day for Melbourne City, with the team set to compete in yet another Women’s Asian Champions League Quarter Final when they face PFC Nasaf at the Home of the Matildas this afternoon.
This match up posed a unique challenge for City coach Michael Matricciani, with opposition analysis a little bit more difficult than it usually is.
Speaking ahead of this afternoon’s match, he explained that “we can’t get any information from their local league, but they obviously qualified last November to the Quarter Final, so we have those three group stage matches. We also had the three preliminary rounds, which was a month or two prior.
“But really analysing that, but also analysing the Uzbekistan national team because there’s a lot of players, I think there’s over 10 that are playing in this and that side. So I know there’s different coaches, but when they played against the Philippines a few weeks back to qualify for the World Cup, in that match there was nine players in the starting lineup for Uzbekistan national team that are going to be playing tomorrow.
“So we’ve done an analysis on their club performances in the group stage and also a little bit of the national team and sort of getting a guide on the styles of more the individual players, and then we’ll see in the first five minutes what they’re going to throw at us and we’ll be able to adapt.”
The timing of the match could have been really unfortunate, with a number of City’s youngest stars having been called up to the Young Matildas side competing in the Under 20 Women’s Asian Cup that begins next week.
However, Matricciani said that there was never much of a risk of his Young Matildas’ stars not being available, saying that “Alex [Epakis, Young Matildas head coach] called me maybe three or four weeks ago suggesting that we have a few players that are in contention to get selected into that Asian Cup with the under twenties, and he said that because it’s not an A-League round, that would allow whatever players were going to be selected to play in this match.”
The City boss also confirmed that there were no injury or player load concerns ahead of the match this afternoon.
“We had two players, Caitlin Karic and Ellie Wilson that are coming back from a bit longer term injuries, but otherwise, everyone else is getting ready to go” Matricciani said.
This is not City’s first rodeo at this stage of the continental tournament, having gone all the way to the final in last season’s edition.
Speaking at the same media call as her coach, defender Taylor Otto shed some light on how last year’s experiences have helped shape the build up to the knockout stage of the tournament this time around.
“I think like in anything, the first time you’re doing it, it’s kind of a bit you go with what’s presented to you, and this year we have a little bit more experience” Otto explained.
“We’ve been here before and we’ve given ourselves the opportunity to have another home quarterfinal, which is awesome and gives us a little bit more stability.
“So I think we’re just taking everything in stride and taking what we learned from last year to do our best this year.”
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