Women’s Asian Cup: Matildas coach Joe Montemurro heaps praise on friend and China coach Ante Milicic

Matildas coach Joe Montemurro is expecting his old friend Ante Milicic to have a few tricks up his sleeve when the coaching counterparts face off in Tuesday’s Women’s Asian Cup semifinal.

In his first major tournament in charge of Asia’s reigning champions, Milicic’s China stand between Australia and the final as he plots an upset over his former team and home country at Optus Stadium.

Montemurro labelled Milicic, who was in charge of the Matildas at the 2019 Women’s World Cup and served as an assistant to Ange Postecoglou for the Socceroos at the 2014 World Cup, one of the best coaching exports the country had produced.

“I have the utmost respect for Ante as a person and as a student of the game. He sees the game holistically, but sees the game for the reality that it is,” he said.

“He’s one of the special coaches that’s been produced in Australia. There’s been many of them and he’s had a great career.

“He knows all different levels of tournament football and also club football, so that makes him a real special person and coach.

“We could talk about the football on the pitch, but there’s also going to be a tactical battle that I need to be prepared for off the pitch, when to make those decisions, because I know he’s going to throw some things at us.”

Milicic’s first games in charge of China back in 2024 were against the Matildas in Australia, so the experience of facing his native country and former team at home is not new to him — but doing so in a must-win match is.

“I’m honored that I’ve had the opportunity to coach both national teams and of course I’ll always follow the Matildas from afar, not only them with the national team, but their players at their clubs,” Milicic said.

“I had great memories from my time there, but ultimately, now I’m enjoying this journey now with China. It’s been so enjoyable for me; I’m a better coach, better person, and I’m just really looking forward to the occasion, more than anything, to be able to lead China here tomorrow night against Australia at home in a semifinal.

“That’s a dream and not only for myself, you have to understand, there’s also four other Australians as part of my staff that have been working very hard on this journey, and we’re preparing the team as best we can.”

There are only 10 players remaining in the Matildas squad from the team who travelled to France with Milicic for the 2019 World Cup, but among those who did feature were Australia’s star-studded attacking trio of Sam Kerr, Mary Fowler and Caitlin Foord.

How to stop them on Tuesday night remains a conundrum for Milicic.

“All I can do is provide the girls with the information, but it’s consistent with what we do against every opposition. These forward players of Australia can unlock a game at any time through their own individual class or combination,” he said.

“They’ve played together for for a long time, and they’ve also playing consistently in Europe at a top level, so we understand defensively, we’re going to have to be very strong.

“But at the same time, we can’t come into the mindset of just thinking how we will contain Australia’s attacking threats.”

For Montemurro, he is looking for a more composed performance from his team after two somewhat sub-par outings against South Korea and North Korea.

“It’s probably been the emotion and the moments and the situation of the way games have gone in the last couple that we haven’t been probably brave enough to control the ball,” he said.

“We’re playing a team that is very well-structured, very well-organised, so it’s going to be us understanding the moments with the ball and making the right decisions.”