This upcoming fixture arrives on the heels of a candid critique from Alen Stajcic, a previous Matildas coach who is now leading the A-League Men’s team, Western Sydney. Stajcic did not hold back in his evaluation of the current state of the sport in Australia, illustrating the internal strife with a vivid metaphor: “We’re infighting all the time. We’re like two seagulls fighting over one chip,” he lamented.

Montemurro’s support of Stajcic’s candid comments highlights a growing desire for unity within the Australian soccer community. As the Matildas gear up for an important international tournament, both coaches stress the need for solidarity to propel the sport forward in the nation.

The fixture comes just days after former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic, now the boss of A-League Men’s outfit Western Sydney, offered a blunt appraisal of the game in Australia.

‘We’re infighting all the time. We’re like two seagulls fighting over one chip,’ Stajcic said.

‘We’ve got nothing and we fight over it. I don’t know why we always put ourselves down.’

Montemurro agreed with Stajcic, who was Matildas coach from September 2014 until he was sacked in January 2019.

‘I’ve said this from day one, that I think sometimes we put ourselves down for no reason,’ Montemurro told reporters in Adelaide.

‘We just think that we’re so far behind; we’ve got this sort of inferiority complex of the rest of the world in football.

Matildas Coach Joe Montemurro (pictured) has made some passionate comments about the state of Australian soccer

Despite producing stars like Sam Kerr (pictured), Montemurro believes the game in Australia is suffering from an inferiority complex 

Kerr and Mary Fowler (pictured) have both been notable outs for the national team across the last two years

‘We’ve got coaches all around the world. We’ve got top players all around the world at top clubs.

‘So we must be doing something right and we should be celebrating that.

‘And we should be really using that as a platform to say: “OK, well, where can we grow?”

‘I think the reality is, is now unity – unity of everyone coming together and saying: “OK, what’s our next step as a nation, what’s our next step as a league, what’s our next step as federations and where we can take it forward?”‘

Montemurro’s next steps after Tuesday night will centre on communication with Matildas players as they return to their clubs ahead of Australia hosting the Asian Cup.

‘What we’ve tried to do is just stabilise not only the playing squad, but staff – staff processes, stability in the people coming in, stability in the direction, having a clear direction where we’re going forward,’ he said.

‘And as I keep saying, it’s what we do from now with the players who are going back to their relative clubs.

‘The information we keep giving them, how we monitor them, how we monitor just their physical load and just simple chats and updates.   

‘I think this is now the important part.

‘They’re plying their trade in big clubs, in big competitions.

‘And for me, as long as they’re at that level, we’ll always have a healthy national team.’