Meet the experts: Belinda Wilson

The former Guam national women’s team head coach was also the Technical Director of the Guam national association, overseeing both the men’s and women’s game. Wilson has managed Australia’s U17 women’s team and Brisbane Roar’s senior women’s side. She also had a spell with the AFC as acting director and coach education manager for women’s football.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019™ was significantly more competitive than the 2015 tournament, and Wilson believes we will see further significant progression in Australia and New Zealand this time out.

“This year the round of 16 is difficult to predict, and we are likely to see some big games between big teams even at this stage of the tournament,” she commented. “I’ve been involved in the physical analysis that was conducted in 2015 and 2019 and the speed of the games is improving with every World Cup cycle. With more players in full-time professional environments and with younger players coming through more established academy pathways, it will be fascinating to see how this competition evolves.

“I’m really interested to see how coaches integrate their tactical approaches with the technical abilities of the players when the games are being played at such high intensities, and also how they manage the loads and recovery of their players in order to progress through the tournament. 

“Teams are becoming smarter about how and when they use speed and what demands coaches place on their players. They are getting better at game management and have better squad depth, so players are available that can offer different ways of playing so it will be interesting to see how teams start games and how they change during them,” she explained.

Wilson believes this will be the most competitive women’s World Cup ever. She will observe matches from her base in Sydney.