{"id":507430,"date":"2026-02-27T11:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/507430\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:36:08","slug":"womens-asian-cup-2026-katrina-gorry-has-done-it-all-for-the-matildas-now-she-wants-a-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/507430\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Asian Cup 2026: Katrina Gorry has done it all for the Matildas. Now she wants a trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When coaches talk about the typical ‘Aussie’ characteristics they love in footballers they’re usually along the same lines.<\/p>\n

Tenacious, aggressive, passionate, dogged, entertaining, and a winning mentality.<\/p>\n

Katrina Gorry is as archetypal as you can get, and the player who lit up the 2014 tournament and named AFC Women’s Footballer of the Year is ready for another potentially career-defining tournament.<\/p>\n

At 33 she remains at the top of her game and is expected to once again form a critical midfield partnership with Kyra Cooney-Cross throughout the Women’s Asian Cup which kicks off this weekend.<\/p>\n

“I think a lot of my drive over the last six months has been to get to this tournament, play in front of home fans, enjoy the moment, and hopefully come away with a trophy,” she said.<\/p>\n

The highs of the 2023 Women’s World Cup were followed by an early exit from the Paris Olympics, then the long wait to appoint Joe Montemurro as Tony Gustavsson’s successor.<\/p>\n

Get the latest:<\/p>\n

Listen to ABC Sport<\/a> for coverage of the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, and keep up to date online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gorry sees it as a positive.<\/p>\n

“[We’ve] had some really up and down moments over the last couple of years but I think that’s what’s brought us all together and made us want more, and I think we’re really ready for it,” she said.<\/p>\n

The last time Australia hosted the Women’s Asian Cup was in 2006, and the one and only time the Matildas won was in 2010.<\/p>\n

Although recent enough, it is a bygone era of women’s football with most of the Matildas’ top talent now fully professional and playing overseas.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Gorry has over 100 caps for the Matildas. (Getty Images: ISI Photos\/USSF\/Brad Smith)<\/p>\n

Gorry captains West Ham United in England’s Women’s Super League, and winning a major international tournament is not just a dream it is a very real possibility.<\/p>\n

“It’s practically like our Euros. The calibre of teams that we have in this tournament is top tier and it’s going to push us hard,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got a lot of great players in the team, a lot of experience, a lot of players playing in great leagues across the world.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s our time to really stamp our foot on the Asian tournament and make sure we come home with a trophy.”<\/p>\n

One of the strengths of the squad is the versatility across all positions, and there is particular excitement around midfielder Amy Sayer who is capable of creativity anywhere.<\/p>\n

Sayer’s return from knee injury a testament to single-minded focus<\/a><\/p>\n

After a long-term injury seriously derailed her career, Australian soccer player Amy Sayer is looking to leave a mark on this year’s Asian Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“She plays so fluidly. She makes something exciting happen, usually out of nothing,” Gorry said.<\/p>\n

“She’s always someone that you can rely on the field. She’ll work hard and creates chances, [it] makes it easier for us in the midfield and you can put her anywhere on the pitch.”<\/p>\n

With only three prior international windows to prepare for the Asian Cup under Montemurro, Gorry has dismissed any concerns over the preparation.<\/p>\n

“Every minute, pretty much, we’re on the football field it goes towards this tournament and I think everyone’s been working hard \u2014 whether they’re in their club teams or watching videos from Joe in camp,” Gorry said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been trying to get as much knowledge and information from him as we can.”<\/p>\n

The Matildas will face the Philippines in Perth on Sunday before facing Iran on the Gold Coast and South Korea in Sydney to complete the group stage.<\/p>\n

The Matildas’ opening game on Sunday will be broadcast live on ABC radio<\/a> and ABC Sport will live blog the game<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When coaches talk about the typical ‘Aussie’ characteristics they love in footballers they’re usually along the same lines.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,177794,44964,85,254234],"class_list":{"0":"post-507430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-katrina-gorry","11":"tag-matildas","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-womens-asian-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}