Key events
If you are just checking in after a long break, it shouldn’t take you too long to come to grips with who is in the squad and who isn’t as, for all the talk of renewal and generational change under Joe Montemurro, there’s plenty of familiar faces in the 26-player squad. Here’s a player-by-player guide of each and every member.
Drawn in by the prospect of another home tournament (assuming you live in Perth, the Gold Coast, or Sydney), are you checking back in for the first time since that fateful semifinal agianst England just over three years ago? Wondering what’s happened with the Matildas since?
Jo Khan and Martin Pegan have you covered with a timeline of everything that’s gone down since then.
Questions about the Women’s Asian Cup or how it works? Jo Khan may just have you covered with her explainer.
The Women’s Asian Cup is a sequel with a difference. Not bigger, and surely not better than the magnificent 2023 World Cup, when the Matildas entranced Australia during their run to the semi-finals.
But there is enough intrigue in the script – coaching frenemies, unlikely injury comebacks, last hurrahs, footballing minnows and mirrors of multicultural Australia, even fairytale romance – that it will hold the nation’s football community riveted. Whether the continental championship bursts out into a broader cultural phenomenon, however, will be one of the compelling questions of the next three weeks.
Jack Snape with his pre-game view from Perth.
Matildas XI
And, as speculated, it’s Chloe Lincoln who gets the start in goal for the Matildas this evening.
It looks like a pretty standard 4-2-1-3, with Sam Kerr captaining the side and leading the line with Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso on the wings and Emily van Egmond tucking in behind as a ten. Katrina Gorry will likely play as an eight with Clare Wheeler behind her as a six, with Steph Catley on the left (not at centreback, hmmm) and Ellie Carpenter on the right, flanking a central duo of Wini Heatley and Clare Hunt.
Perhaps just as notable, however, is who else isn’t in the squad: Kyra Cooney-Cross, who has experienced a disrupted preparation and who was absent from training on Saturday, not even named amongst the substitutes.
Starting XI: Lincoln (GK), Heatley, Hunt, Wheeler, Catley, Foord, van Egmond, Raso, Gorry, Kerr, Carpenter
With Micah and Whyman out and Arnold under a cloud, tonight’s tournament opener could ostensibly see Chloe Lincoln, herself only called up following Micah’s withdrawal, don the gloves.
Capped three times by the Matildas, the 21-year-old has long been highly-rated within the national team setup and has previously been part of two-Young Matildas squads that went to U20 World Cups. She also actually in season, giving her something of a leg-up on still in pre-season Arnold, who is signed to NSWL side Portland Thorns.
However, if not for her longstanding reputation within the national team setup it’s almost certain that Lincoln wouldn’t have been called into the squad, given her A-League Women form with Brisbane Roar has seen her ship more goals than any other keeper – 1.9 goals per game – and been adjudged, per Fotmob, to have prevented -6.4 goals, the worst figure in the competition.
In case you’ve missed today’s biggest pre-game news, the Matildas have been forced to make a late change to their 26-player squad, with goalkeeper Jada Whyman succumbing to a knee injury and replaced in the squad by Perth-local Morgan Aquino, who had already been on location as a train-on player.
📰 SQUAD UPDATE: goalkeeper Jada Whyman has been ruled out of the #WAC2026 due to a knee injury. Whyman will be replaced in the 26-player squad by Morgan Aquino.
We’re absolutely heartbroken for you, Jada, and are sending you all our love and strength as you begin your recovery.…
— CommBank Matildas (@TheMatildas) March 1, 2026
After already losing presumptive number one Tegan Micah to concussion, the absence of Whyman creates a significant headache for coach Joe Montemurro, given that Mackenzie Arnold, who ostensibly would have been the obvious starter in Micah’s absence, will enter this evening under a significant fitness cloud.
Preamble
Joey Lynch
Hey everyone, it’s ya boi Joey Lynch, at last, the moment is here. In just about an hour, the Matildas run out on to the Perth Stadium surface to take on the Philippines and, as they do, will mark the commencement of the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup.
It will usher in three weeks in which 12 nations from across the continent lock horns for the right to call themselves the best of the globe’s biggest continent. Five others, though missing out on continental glory, will at least be able to take solace from punching their tickets to the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil, while another two will know they’re headed for inter-confederation play-offs for a spot at that tournament.
Australian anticipation, and expectation, is invariably high. After staging a run to the semi-finals of the 2023 Women’s World Cup on home soil it’s not unreasonable to suggest that the Matildas should be setting their sights higher against the comparatively lower-level of competition to be drawn from Asia – even if a showdown with presumptive tournament favourites Japan looms in the semi-finals.
At the very least, it would take something of a catastrophe for them to fail to punch their tickets to the World Cup – even if, admittedly, that’s a fate that would have befallen them following their 2022 collapse had they not been co-hosting in 2023. And they’re expected to do the job tonight against a Filipinas side that, while chasing history of their own, suffered an 8-0 defeat to the Australians when they last met – coincidently in Perth – during qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
We’ll have line-ups for you shortly, with kick-off set for 5pm local/8pm AEDT.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/mar/01/matildas-australia-v-philippines-womens-asian-cup-2026-football-aus-v-phl-live-score-updates
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