Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson believes the best way to respect retiring Canada great Christine Sinclair's send-off is to crash the party.
Football's all-time leading international goalscorer, women's or men's, Sinclair will draw a decorated career to a close after friendly matches against Australia on Saturday and Wednesday (AEDT).
"I know that Canada will do their part but I know our team want to do their part as well to honour her before the game," Gustavsson said.
"But ... she is a competitor, she wants a game, she wants it to be a game and all these players are going to respect that.
"Once the game starts, it's two teams that really want to go at each other and make the most out of every single minute out there, because that's the best way to honour her."
Saturday's game at Starlight Stadium in Langford is the Matildas' first meeting with Canada since thumping the Olympic champions 4-0 to end their World Cup campaign in Melbourne in July.
Canada coach Bev Priestman has steered away from a revenge narrative while Gustavsson certainly isn't taking victory for granted.
"This is not about something that was connected to the World Cup," he said.
"This is a new cycle, a new journey, (Priestman's) focus is probably preparing her team for the Olympics.
"I'm sure it's going to be a tough battle."
The Matildas are without skipper Sam Kerr (foot) and first-choice goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold (arm).
Gustavsson leaned into a more possession-based style in Australia's recent Olympic qualifiers in Perth and plans to build on that.
"We did a tremendous job in the qualifiers in October to take steps in the right direction," he said.
"But now we need to test that against world-class opposition, a top-10 ranked team," he said.
"And do that against the pressing team like Canada. We're probably going to get dispossessed at times and their transition game is going to hurt us.
"But ... we want to take that step and this is a massive opportunity for us to do that."
