By Eleanor Gee

Australia’s Westfield Junior Matildas team U16 will take on Tonga’s National Women’s team U19 in a friendly game in Tonga on Thursday, 8 August, kicking off at 1:00 pm, at the Tonga Football Academy in Veitongo.

According to Tonga Football, this is the first Australian National team to visit Tonga since they left the Oceania Football Confederation to join the Asian Football Confederation.

The Australians Pacific tour is supported by the Australian Government’s ‘Pacific Step-Up’ and Australia Pacific Sports Linkages Program, through a partnership with the Football Federation Australia.

This afternoon both the Australian and Tongan teams took a rare step of training together on the eve of their historic soccer international game in the spirit of friendship, football development and cultural exchange.

Matildas Head Coach Rae Dower said the joint training session is “not your usual match day preparation” but a collaboration to share knowledge, share experience and spend time with the Tongan players and getting to know them on a personal level.

“We can’t wait for Thursday,” she said.

The Westfield Junior Matildas have introduced seven new players into the group including Goal Keeper, Miranda Templeman, who said it is a privilege to represent her country and is looking forward to playing against Tonga.

‘I think everyone is looking forward to getting out there and just experiencing a different style of play and seeing [what] we can probably learn off them and also learning how to adapt our game to different styles of play, it will be very interesting.”

Rae Dower said she will also be keeping an eye out for any talented Tongan players during the game.

“Certainly, if there are any players that catch the eye I will certainly be passing the names on and assisting where possible for any player that I think could certainly forge out a career in the W league at home. So that’s certainly a benefit of being here and watching the players first hand.”

The Australians will be heading towards the U16 Asian Championships in September to compete for a place in the U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup next year in India.

As part of their Pacific tour, the team will also visit Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.