Welcome to 2023.
For football fans across Australia and New Zealand, the wait is almost over. Since Gianni Infantino uttered that delightfully deceiving sentence, the Women's World Cup has never been closer to gracing our shores than this moment in time.
However, if you're a glass half empty person, or more pertinently a team that will be beginning their World Cup campaign in July, there has never been less time to prepare and get things right.
For Tony Gustavsson and the Matildas, the home stretch of preparations centre on the Cup of Nations -- rebooted from its first running in 2019 prior to the World Cup in France and arguably even more important this time around.
It has been three months since Australia were last in action and, while there is an undeniable shifting of gears because it is finally a World Cup year, it can be argued the Matildas have also not begun a year, in the Tony Gustavsson era anyway, in such a positive spot. Or maybe the more fitting description is they haven't started a year with such little angst surrounding them.
Everything is moving along as it seemingly should. The team is on a four-game winning streak, finding goals from multiple sources, and keeping clean sheets. The squad has expanded in some key areas. New faces have emerged and proven they are at the level. Old faces have found rich veins of form.
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While the strong ending to 2022 was much needed, that moment of peace can't last as everything ramps up ahead of the World Cup. The Cup of Nations therefore presents the best opportunity the Matildas will have to replicate the group stage before the real thing begins, down to the three varied opponents they will face: Czech Republic, Spain and Jamaica.
In a way, the Cup of Nations being as close to a World Cup group stage as a team could possibly get makes this international window even more important as players aim to put their best foot forward for future selection.
Gustavsson's talk of narrowing the squad down and keeping things consistent has been reflected in the selections made with 21 of November's 24-player squad returning, three stalwarts back after injury and one unexpected call up.
Across the park, players will be feeling all kinds of pressure: to regain form, the make a good first impression, to prove they belong in the squad.
Full fitness means the standard goalkeeping trio of the Gustavsson era, Teagan Micah, Lydia Williams, and Mackenzie Arnold, has been selected. While Micah and Williams appear to be the No. 1 and No. 2, Micah being out of season, Williams recently moving to Brighton in the WSL for game time, and Arnold putting on a blindingly good performance for West Ham against Arsenal -- and the general intensity of competition for custodians -- means there is still truly genuine competition for the No. 1.
Across the backline, Clare Hunt is the player under the most pressure to impress in this Cup of Nations. However, her pressure isn't the same as other players in the squad.
She was an unexpected inclusion in this Australia squad but, at 23 years of age, and with a strong A-League Women season under her belt so far, Hunt's pressure comes from how quickly she can adjust to rigours and demands of international football. A strong window from her could spell the beginning of a truly late charge into the World Cup squad.
The centre of the park is arguably the most pressure-filled area of the pitch at the moment. Formation tweaks have meant in the past four games Katrina Gorry and Kyra Cooney-Cross have typically run the midfield.
Cooney-Cross will be hoping to prove she is still the right woman to partner Gorry in the midfield, while any number of players will be putting forward their own cases to get on the pitch.
Alex Chidiac has been in Julie Dolan medal form for Melbourne Victory in the ALW and while Mary Fowler's Manchester City minutes haven't been extensive, her talent is undeniable. Both players have shown they can play the game-changer role to perfection -- Chidiac against Denmark and Fowler against Sweden the prime examples.
Then there are players like Tameka Yallop and Elise Kellond-Knight. Yallop returns to the squad following ankle surgery, while Kellond-Knight makes her second straight camp following her own return from injury. Between them, they have 223 caps for the Matildas. Throw in the likes of an Emily van Egmond, who is currently in preseason, and a Clare Wheeler, building some minutes at Everton, and you have a collection of players who are all good enough to be Matildas but with limited places available.
Up top there's pressure on Cortnee Vine, Larissa Crummer, and Emily Gielnik. Vine was sensational for the Matildas in the backend of 2022 but hasn't exactly lit the ALW on fire. She'll need to show last year's form once again to prove she is still a starting Matildas' attacker.
Crummer meanwhile is under pressure that isn't entirely of her own making. Gustavsson's insistence that she can be placed in the backline feels like an experiment that persists despite no evidence to back up the persistence.
Her forays forward in green and gold are limited, meaning she cannot really show her attacking prowess either. However, Crummer is another striker who has been fine at ALW level but certainly hasn't generated the excitement -- or the goals -- that would warrant her continued inclusion in the squad.
Gielnik is back following injury, a recurring theme that has so far scuppered her time at Aston Villa. Much like her fellow strikers, goals would soothe all ailments.
Ultimately players love to talk about competition for places being a good thing in squads. Cliche or not, competition for spots, mountains of pressure and the ultimate incentive -- a home World Cup -- are exactly what they've got.