Key events
Preamble
Martin Pegan
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the first women’s football friendly between Australia and Mexico at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle. This is the first of two matches in the series as the Matildas and El Tri Femenil set out to build momentum for the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
The Matildas return to Australia for a first game on home soil since their run to the Asian Cup final in March. The continental runners-up had little time to put their heartbreaking defeat to Japan behind them with a pair of Fifa Series games in Kenya – both convincing victories – just a few weeks later as attention quickly turned to the global showpiece in Brazil next year.
The world No 28-ranked Mexico are a significant step up in the Matildas’ preparations for the upcoming tournament and El Tri Femenil arrive in Newcastle in red-hot form. Australia might be ranked 13 places higher than Mexico at No 15 but their opponents are on the rise and unbeaten in their past nine matches across an imposing streak that includes a 1-0 victory over 2027 World Cup hosts Brazil in March.
Australia hold a dominant 10-1 win-loss record over Mexico, most recently tightening their stranglehold on the matchup with a 2-0 triumph in a friendly two years ago, but a tighter tussle seems to be on the cards tonight at a sold out McDonald Jones Stadium.
Kick-off is at 7.15pm AEST. I’ll be back shortly with the line-ups and team news. In the meantime, get in touch with any questions, thoughts and predictions. You can shoot me an email, or find me on X @martinpegan and Bluesky @martinpegan.bsky.social. Let’s get into it!
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