It's two days out from the big kick-off and the mind games have begun.Last Friday night Tony Gustavsson's Matildas looked ominously impressive, delivering a powerful display of speed and technical ability to beat France 1-0.They are capable of overpowering teams in every part of the pitch, but the Aussies seem reluctant to embrace the 'physical’ tag.
They’re happy to lump that one on Republic of Ireland.The back page of Tuesday’s Sydney Morning Herald set the tone ahead of Thursday’s World Cup group opener at the Accor Stadium.‘Rough And Ready’ reads the headline over a picture of Sam Kerr and Co in training, with the accompanying subhead: "The Matildas have vowed to fight fire with fire when they come against a ‘very tough-playing’ Republic of Ireland side known for its physicality in their World Cup opener on Thursday."Ireland walked off the pitch due to concerns about Colombia’s robust approach five days ago, but Australia aren’t buying any suggestions that they don’t like it up ‘em.Matildas defenders Alanna and Clare Hunt had faced the press the previous day and neither were in any way critical of Ireland, the former praising "world-class" pair Katie McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan while lamenting the circumstances around that ill-fated Colombia game."It’s terrible a game has to be abandoned for that reason," she said.Manchester City centre-half Kennedy offered support for O’Sullivan, who is still recovering from a shin injury sustained in the abandoned behind-closed-doors match, saying: "I hope she’s okay because you don’t want to see anyone injured at the moment, especially right before the start of the World Cup."And the "very tough-playing" quote referenced on the Herald’s back page is actually from Vera Pauw, who