Matildas face ‘toughest ever’ World Cup

HIS team’s place in the top pot of seeds is almost assured for the World Cup draw, but Matildas boss Alen Stajcic believes the tournament in June will be the toughest ever for any country to win.

Stajcic leaves for France today ahead of the draw for the World Cup late on Saturday night, with Australia expected to be one of the top seeds once FIFA confirms its draw protocols the day before.

But with several powerful opponents in the second tier of qualifiers, Stajcic underlined the size of the challenge facing his team in taking on the world’s best.

The Matildas’ own results proved that point, he said, after defeating some of the globe’s most highly ranked sides but also slipping up against teams well below Australia’s sixthplaced ranking.

“When you look at the top pot, there's probably the three favourites for the tournament in America, France and Germany,” Stajcic said.

“There's six or eight countries who, in my opinion, can make a tilt at the title. I'd put us in that six or eight.

“But in pot two, you've got Holland, the current European champions; Japan, former winners; and Norway and Sweden – both former winners and Olympic gold medallists.

“If we're in pot one, we'll get one of those – the difference between those two pots is very little at the moment.”