Australia v Slovenia: international women’s football friendly – live

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18 mins: Beautiful run through the middle from Sayer and pass forward to McNamara who cuts it back to her again, but Sayer can’t control the touch and sends the ball sailing high over the crossbar. Maybe should have held on to it herself and gone all the way then.

16 mins: A cross from Kolbl ends up being a shot on target and Micah is forced into a slow-motion save. Nearly a Torpey-esque goal there.

14 mins: Australia turn over the ball around halfway and Kramzar breaks through, she tried to slot it through to Sternad but she can’t get there.

12 mins: Kramzar challenges the Australian defence but wastes her last touch. they are going to need to keep a close eye on her. Slovenia have their fourth corner.

10 mins: The Matildas often look a bit frenzied at the start of a new international window, and the start of this friendly has been no different.

8 mins: Hunt clears a second corner and Slovenia regain possession in their defensive half before pushing forward with more confidence. Kennedy clears that foray over the sideline.

6 mins: A nicely taken Slovenian corner is punched away by Micah. A bit nervy at the back it seems.

4 mins: A disappointing start for Slovenia. Australia were able to build patiently to that goal with minimal pressure from their opposition. Just before the goal there was another change from a Sayer cross that was deflected off a defender just past the far post.

Goal! Australia 1-0 Slovenia (Gielnik '3)

Emily Gielnik opens the scoring in the first two minutes. A corner comes in from Van Egmond on the right and lands right in the middle of the six-yard box where it gets jammed under a couple of defenders before Gielnik is able to hack it out and into the back of the net. Not neat but still counts.

Peeeeep!

Kick-off is upon us. Let the football begin.

HBF Park in Perth is not looking particularly full at this point, certainly in contrast to the crowd sizes the Matildas have played in front of over the last couple years.

The Matildas walk off the pitch after warm up. Photograph: Paul Kane/Getty Images

My colleague Joey Lynch has pointed out a bit of shared history for the two coaches tonight, at South Melbourne FC.

Chidiac had a quick post-warm-up chat with Paramount, she says she didn’t really have benchmarks for herself coming back into the squad.

I wanted to come in as myself as much as possible. Coming off a strong season with Victory, I want to implement that with the team and take any opportunity I can get.

[Slovenia] are a brave team on an attack and counter-attack side, but we will definitely bring it to them.

For Australia, Alex Chidiac and Emily Gielnik are straight back into the starting XI, and Montemurro has given Teagan Micah her 7th start in a row in goal despite Mackenzie Arnold being back from injury.

Here’s the rest of the squad:

Slovenia line-up

Slovenia XI: Zala Mersnik; Lana Golob, Sara Agrez, Kaja Korosec, Dominika Conc, Lara Prasnikar, Spela Kolbl, Sara Makovec, Kaja Erzen, Zara Kramzar, Maja Sternad

(Pending nicely designed graphic tweet…)

Australia line-up

Australia XI:

Montemurro is speaking now before the game, saying he has “demanded” a few things of his players including keeping the ball more and being more proactive with the ball, and not going forwards “needlessly” but preparing for it better.

Now on to the coach. After 10 months of delay and speculation, the worst kept rumour in Australian football was confirmed at the start of June. Joe Montemurro is now tasked with reviving the Matildas mania spawned by the 2023 Women’s World Cup and developing his mixed squad of veterans and newbies into a side strong enough to be contenders for the Asian Cup title in under a year’s time.

Fans are starting to make their way into HBF park – some on the hunt for a Sam Kerr autograph no doubt. Photograph: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Some succeeding. Photograph: James Worsfold/Getty Images

Some more in the Mackenzie ‘Brick Wall’ Arnold camp. Photograph: James Worsfold/Getty Images

In the second game of that series Amy Sayer was the star, scoring twice in just her second game back for the national team after her ACL injury.

It’s only been a few weeks since the Matildas last played on home soil – in the friendly series against Argentina. I think it is worth revisiting the spectacular debut of Kahli Johnson:

Preamble

G’day and welcome to our live coverage of the Matildas’ friendly match against Slovenia in Perth. This match kicks off a four-game spell for the Matildas in Western Australia over the next few weeks, in a particularly long international window. It couldn’t come at a better time for the newly appointed coach, Joe Montemurro, to get to know his squad and start preparation for the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup and beyond.

Kick-off at HBF Park is in just under an hour, where it is a cool 15C.

Feel free to share any questions or comments with me, Jo Khan, via email.

Can the Montemurro era start with a bang? Let’s find out!