CANBERRA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Australia women's national football team head coach Ante Milicic believe that the qualification match against China for the 2020 Olympic Games will be a difficult one and they need to play at their best to get a positive result.
Milicic announced a 20-player squad earlier this week. Following that announcement, he told Xinhua in a recent interview that he had noticed the development of Chinese women's national team in the past six months since the 2019 France World Cup.
"I thought in the World Cup, you know physically that they were very strong. They are a team that didn't have a lot of possession particularly in the game against Germany or against Spain," said Milicic.
"But they showed good signs of working together and being quite compact. They're to hit teams on the break.
"They also had their tournament in November in China where they got a good victory against New Zealand and also had the 0-0 draw with Brazil in 90 minutes and also with South Korea. So the results for them have been good."
Australia's games will be held in Wuhan, China on February 3, 6 and 9, when they will meet Chinese Taipei, Thailand and China respectively in their Group B qualifiers at the Five Rings Sports Center.
"I would say China is probably the best-prepared team in Asia at the moment. We know that it's going be a difficult and third game with them," said Milicic.
"So we really have a lot of respect for the opposition again. And I also think it's great for the Women's game to show. So like I said I have a lot of respect for China and really looking forward to playing them in Wuhan."
Group B features Vietnam, Myanmar, and group host South Korea. The top two teams from each group will advance to a two-legged play-off round, with the winners of one group facing the runners-up of the other.
The two play-off winners will join hosts Japan at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The "steel roses" currently set up a training camp in Gold Coast, Australia. Under the head coach Jia Xiuquan, who led them to a last-16 finish at the 2019 World Cup, they have played against several local clubs from the top-flight of Australia's women league.
Milicic said he founded that the camp consists of larger squads compared to the team he knew before.
"So there's always competition for players. They're very competitive," said the Australian coach.
"You know even looking back at the World Cup, their physical data was at the top. So I wouldn't now start singling out any particular player."
However, he showed confidence in the 20-player squad he had chosen, which includes captain Sam Kerr, who plays her club football with Chelsea, and Emily Gielnik of Bayern Munich.
The Matildas will assemble in Sydney for a training camp between January 20 and 27 before leaving for China on January 28. While the overseas duo will meet their teammates in Hubei Province prior to the start of the tournament.
"We all know that we have to be at very best to get a result against them," said Milicic.
"But as always what we do as an Australian team, we concentrate on ourselves and we believe that playing at our best can give us a chance to get a positive result."
