Caitlyn Torpey,Michelle Heyman and Chloe Logarzo.Credit:Getty
It means Steph Catley will once more captain the team for the away leg in Tashkent on February 24 and then the home leg at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on February 28 (Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ruled out the MCG),with a win required for the Matildas to qualify for the Paris Games this July.
Heyman made her Matildas debut in 2010 and played at both the 2015 World Cup and 2016 Olympics under Alen Stajcic,before retiring from international football in 2019.
Gustavsson said Heyman had made an irresistible case for inclusion in the absence of Kerr and fellow forwards Holly McNamara (ACL) and Kyah Simon,who was selected for the World Cup and thensuffered an injury setback.
“With Sam unavailable and Holly injured and so forth,we’re looking at who’s the best next No.9,and the way Michelle has played she deserves to be selected,” said Gustavsson,who is in London to visit the 17 squad members who play in the Women’s Super League and will on Tuesday squeeze in a lunch with Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur.
“It’s purely performance … for me it’s not about age,it’s about the quality you have as a footballer. Whether you are 17 or 35,it doesn’t matter. If you have the quality you deserve to be selected,and Heyman has played herself into this team the way she plays.
“She’s in tremendous form,she’s scoring for fun and … we think we’re going to play against a very,very well-organised Uzbekistan. It’s going to be difficult to get in behind. We need an in-and-out pure No.9 in the box who needs half a chance to score,and that’s Michelle the form she’s playing with right now.”
Gustavsson said he first met Heyman in 2022 when she visited the team hotel while the Matildas were in Canberra to play New Zealand. “Phenomenal energy,” he said. “And then obviously I watched her play plenty of times,in terms of calling her for this camp.”
The coach said the “the door is open,but it’s not wide open” for players like Heyman,Logarzo and Torpey to make a shaved-down 18-player Olympic squad,should Australia get there.
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But the chances are not looking good for Chidiac,a cult favourite who arguably has not yet been given the ideal opportunity to shine under Gustavsson amid inconsistent game time abroad at club level. But after her contract with Racing Louisville was not renewed,the 24-year-old playmaker has returned to Melbourne Victory and slotted in seamlessly.
“That was one of the toughest phone calls,to be honest,” he said. “What I did say to Chids is that I’m really happy she’s in a club now that values her qualities,and she gets to play in a pure No.10 role - a linking player in a playing style that suits her. She has just come back to play minutes. She didn’t really get the minutes when she was abroad and it’s for her to find back the joy and the love for the game again,and just play the way Chids can play.