Because this is a Women’s World Cup year, I have decided to countdown to the tournament by providing a short soccer/fitness related preview of each of the 24 participating nations. In this instalment, I will look at Australia, who are making their 6th appearance at the Women’s World Cup. Australia have been drawn in Group D, along with Sweden, Nigeria, and the United States of America.  They will play their first match against the U.S.A. on Monday, June 8th, 2015.

Australia has had success in the Women’s World Cup before, having reached the Quarter-finals in 2007 and again in 2011.  Among the strengths of this year’s team is that they are both youthful (the average age of the team is only 23) and experienced.  Their experience stems in part from the fact that the team is full of players who have spent a few years in one of the best and most competitive women’s soccer leagues in the world.  Fifa.com recently reported that Australia has more foreign players playing in the Women’s Professional Soccer League (W.P.S.L.) in the United States than any other country outside North America.  The W.P.S.L., which features some of the world’s best players including Canada’s Christine Sinclair and the U.S.A.’s Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan, has certainly become a top level league and will no doubt provide the young Australian players with valuable experience against top level opposition.  Can this extra experience help Australia to get out of a difficult group this year?  We will have to wait and see what happens in 1 month’s time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.