The Young Matildas face a do-or-die battle with Spain on Wednesday as they aim to keep their FIFA Women's Under-20s World Cup campaign alive in Costa Rica.
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The Aussie side, which is captained by Illawarra Stingrays young gun Sheridan Gallagher and also features Shellharbour teenager Jyana Dos Santos, must win Wednesday's clash to progress out of the group stage.
The Young Matildas opened their campaign with a 3-1 win over host nation Costa Rica last week, before falling 2-0 to Brazil on Sunday. They currently sit in third place in group A, but are set to finish in the top two if they defeat Spain.
After Sunday's loss, Australian head coach Leah Blayney said her side remained confident going into their final group game.
"We know that we're capable of playing some good football," she said.
"We still demonstrated that tonight [against Brazil] in patches, just for not long enough periods of time for our standards."
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
