‘My football’s all over the place’: Why Matildas will look so different at Asian Cup

This 26-player squad appears to be one of collective malleability and a marked departure from the 2023 World Cup process. AnalysisSportSoccerMatildas‘My football’s all over the place’: Why Matildas will look so different at Asian CupBy Emma Kemp February 19, 2026 — 11.42amSaveLog in, register or subscribe to save articles for later.Save articles for laterAdd articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.Got itNormal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeAdvertisementIf it wasn’t clear from the squad list alone, it became obvious from the answer to the question about potential “thinness” in the midfield.Joe Montemurro had, according to the positions assigned to each name, named six designated midfielders for the Asian Cup compared to nine forwards and eight defenders.“Has the squad been put into defenders, midfielders and attackers? Wow, that’s modern football,” Montemurro said to the journalists at Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium for his Matildas squad unveiling. “We’ve got a Wini Heatley who can play in midfield. I’ve got an Amy Sayer who can play in midfield. I’ve got an Alanna Kennedy who obviously can play at the backend in midfield.Joe Montemurro has laid out his Asian Cup approach based on the 26-player squad undveiled on Thursday.Credit: Getty Images“I would never pick a team that stabilises itself in the structure. I know everyone likes a nice 4-3-3 or a 4-2-4. They like those beautiful lines and everything. You should know me by now. My football’s all over the place, and it’s fluid, and we adapt to the situation.“But that’s what excites me about the squad. We have adaptability, we have players who can play in multiple positions, and I’ll let you choose whether the six ‘thin’ midfielders is enough or not.”Montemurro hadn’t even mentioned Mary Fowler, whom the reporter had referenced as a forward (listed as such) with the capacity to drop deeper and boost said midfield numbers, and whose inclusion - pending fitness - also fits the versatility mould.Versatile is a trendy word in football, and one to which a player who is not Sam Kerr or Aitana Bonmatí - or any other name deemed indispensable to a national team - might strive to attach themselves to beef up the key skills section of their CV. For a tournament like the one starting in Australia next week, under a coach of Montemurro’s style, such an attribute is high on the job criteria.Which is basically another way of saying that the group of Matildas due in camp in Perth in a few days represent a more eclectic mix than that of the 2023 World Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympics. Of the old and the new, and maybe even the old but for different reasons than before.Because this 26-player squad appears to be one of collective malleability which, in terms of approach to the challenges of a major tournament, is a marked departure from the process of predecessor Tony Gustavsson.AdvertisementCoach Joe Montemurro and captain Sam Kerr both wish the Asian Cup was starting next week.Credit: Getty ImagesAnd no, we do not need to keep talking about the former coach, who has been gone for almost 18 months. But it is a way of understanding that to watch this team at the home 2026 Asian Cup could well be a different viewing experience to the home 2023 World Cup.As intoxicating as that record-breaking semi-final run was, questions have lingered since about Gustavsson’s lack of squad rotation and, at times, game management. By the time Australia met England with a place in the final on the line, the starting XI had effectively been the starting XI (bar injury adjustment) for the entire tournament.When an almost identical line-up was rolled out for a seventh-straight time to face Sweden in the third-place play-off, the players admitted “heavy legs” had played a role in the 2-0 defeat, and Gustavsson spent much of that post-match press conference defending his lack of squad rotation.Now, on the eve of the Matildas’ critical Asian Cup campaign and under a still-relatively-new manager, being told that “depth” means something different from what we got told before. That the term does not represent back-up players who will play minimally or not at all unless an “A Team” member is unavailable. And that, really, the concept of an “A Team” is redundant.You might see Kerr start against the Philippines in Perth on March 1, but somebody else might lead the attack against Iran on the Gold Coast three days later. Some players could be rested ahead of the crucial third group game against South Korea in Sydney on March 8, and the specificities of the opposition set-up could dictate the need for an altered combination that is set up differently to what worked last time and could well look unrecognisable again half an hour into the match.Kennedy could start in defensive midfield, or in central defence, or not at all. Heatley, Jamilla Rankin and Courtney Nevin could feature in a shifting defensive line, and that could also depend on whether Steph Catley plays left-back or centre-back in each respective match.We do not know if Katrina Gorry and Kyra Cooney-Cross will comprise the preferred midfi