Women’s Asian Cup: Matildas midfielder Clare Wheeler says Australia more prepared to take on rivals than 2022

Clare Wheeler’s first senior tournament with the Matildas was the 2022 Women’s Asian Cup, and she remembers the heartbreak of their quarter-final defeat to South Korea all too well. But four years on, Wheeler says the 2026 iteration of the Matildas are better prepared to take on the cream of the crop when the Women’s Asian Cup begins in Perth on March 1. With less than a month to go until Australia kick off their quest for their first major silverware since 2010, the Everton midfielder is balancing her excitement for the tournament with the day-to-day grind of the Women’s Super League. The then 24-year-old started Australia’s quarter-final loss to Korea at the last Asian Cup, a game in which they had 65 per cent possession but found themselves frustrated in front of goal before Ji So-Yun’s 87th-minute strike dumped them out of the tournament. Teams in Asia have long sought to ‘park the bus’ and defend in as many numbers as possible against Australia, but Wheeler said previous fixtures against their Group A opponents this tournament would hold them in good stead. “Leading into this tournament, we’ve been having the opportunity to play basically everyone in our group over the last couple of years: Iran, Philippines and South Korea,” she said. “Leading into that tournament in 2022, we didn’t really have that opportunity to have that kind of lead-in. “That’s better placed us in terms of our confidence, our understanding of the style of play we’re going to come up against, where previously, we didn’t really have that. “Coming into this tournament, we’re better prepared in terms of exposure playing the Asian teams, and that will help us be able to get results when we need them.” It has been a long time between drinks for the Matildas at major tournaments, and the squad’s stars are nearing the twilight of their careers. But with the 2027 Women’s World Cup and the 2028 LA Olympics on the horizon, Wheeler said they were not viewing the Asian Cup as a last-chance saloon. “The World Cup is in 2027, so I’d hope the same desire would be there for the World Cup, too. But in terms of our next tournament being the Asian Cup, we want to win,” she said. “Being at home, by itself, lights a fire, the fact that we haven’t won it for several years, lights a fire and just the fact we’re in a tournament, we want to come away with a result. “That in itself is enough motivation for us as a group. We want to get the job done, and we’re all excited for March, but I don’t think the mindset is ‘this could be the last time.’” Despite coach Joe Montemurro having only begun the job in June, Wheeler praised his emphasis on possession-dominant football, which offers a philosophical point of difference to previous coaches. “It’s a short runway, and in terms of Joe’s football philosophy and how, as the Matildas, we show that, that’s going to evolve the longer he’s in this environment,” she said. “The biggest change that Joe’s brought is his demand for us to keep the ball and make the ball do the work and keep the ball throughout the team. It’s something that he demands us to improve and be better. “But with that, he’s also brought in a lot of fluidity, and how we move to keep the ball.”