Five months after they last played on home soil, the Matildas will return to Australia in early September to take on Olympic gold medallists and world number six Canada in a two-match friendly series as both teams continue to prepare for the 2023 Women's World Cup next July.
The second of the two games, scheduled for September 6, will be a particularly special occasion, because it has been chosen by the New South Wales government to help open the new, $828 million, 42,500-seat Sydney Football Stadium as part of a "Festival of Codes" announced on Thursday.
Two other, high-profile matches have also been chosen to celebrate the stadium's completion: an all-Sydney NRL affair between the Roosters and South Sydney on September 2 followed by a rugby Test between the Wallabies and current world number one South Africa the next day.
Further, organisers will throw open the stadium's doors on August 28 for a free community day, inviting sports fans to finally experience the new home of the Roosters, NSW Waratahs, and Sydney FC three years and a number of hiccups after the old stadium was demolished.
For Matildas forward Kyah Simon — who currently plays with Tottenham Hotspur in England — being invited to open the stadium is a testament to how much the women's game has grown in just a few short years.
"The last time we played [at the SFS] was with Melbourne City, it was a grand final here and the crowd would have been around … 5,000?" Simon told ABC.
"We always love playing in big stadiums that are sell-outs, not just big stadiums with empty seats. To play in a brand new stadium like this later this year, and against quality opposition in Canada, I think it's going to be massive for us.
"And, if we can get a good result, we can create that hype and get everyone excited, especially those people who might not come to the game but watch it off the telly and look at it and say: 'I want to be there'."
While the Matildas last faced Canada at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the last time Canada visited Australia was back in 2008, before most of the current Australian senior team had pulled on the green-and-gold.
One person who remembers that day, though, is former Matilda Sarah Walsh, currently head of women's football, legacy, and inclusion at Football Australia (FA).
Unfortunately, she remembers Canada for all the wrong reasons.
"We were preparing for the 2008 Asian Cup in Vietnam and we had a really healthy squad at the time. We played quite well that night," Walsh recalled.
"But I went into a tackle that I probably shouldn't have … and broke my leg.
"We didn't find out until the next day through X-rays. I was basically on crutches with my flight [to Vietnam] still ready to go, so they had to replace me, I believe with Leena Khamis or Joey Burgess.
"So it wasn't a great night for me personally!"
Beyond the broken leg, Walsh remembers how little interest there was in women's football back then: the lack of media coverage, how few fans in the stands, how rare it was to play in world-class stadiums that are now becoming the norm.
Looking out at the shiny, new Sydney Football Stadium, all steel and glass, Walsh reflected on how facilities and matches like these are all part of the legacy that the 2023 Women's World Cup will leave on Australian football.
"This place looks very different, and pleasingly so. It's a beautiful stadium. We never had anything like this," she said.
"The fact that the Matildas get to open this facility is incredible. There were a lot of teams and games they could have chosen to open with, but they chose us: Australia's most-loved sporting team.
"These milestone moments and opportunities to create a platform and talk about the real issues impacting our game — like the lack of community facilities or those that aren't up to standard — is important.
Also part of FA's broader strategy is to take more national team matches outside the major cities to shine a light on the need for more infrastructure investment in areas that don't receive the same government funding or media attention, with the location of the first Canada friendly on September 3 yet to be announced.
"We want to take the Matildas to all parts of Australia," Walsh said.
"You're going to start to see that through the international windows as we lead up to the World Cup. We've already been to Townsville, we went to Canberra.
"They were honestly some of the most exciting matches because you'll find — more often than not — those areas are starved of not just major events but [also] of major women's events.
"We're not going to be Sydney-centric. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to kick-start the runway to the World Cup, so while we're super excited to play one of the games of this series here, you'll see us move outside of Sydney for a number of future matches."
