Australia boss Gustavsson targets Irish win to set tone

Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson has his sights set on a Sydney victory over the Republic of Ireland to set the tone for their World Cup.

The Aussies, co-hosting the tournament with New Zealand, face Ireland, Canada and Nigeria in a tough Group, opening their campaign against the Girls in Green on Thursday 20 July.

It's a mouthwatering fixture, and Gustavsson admitted the Matildas will be aiming to lay down a marker on home soil.

"It's all about the opening game - we want to start the tournament as strong as possible," Gustavsson said.

"We drew the top-ranked opponent in Pot 2 [Canada], the third-ranked opponent in Pot 3 [Ireland] and the top-ranked opponent in Pot 4 [Nigeria].

"I'm really excited, I've been texting with my coaching staff and my analysts already saying, hey, let's start planning, preparing. We really want to get on it now we know who we're facing and we know what the opening game looks like."

Gustavsson is Swedish, and no doubt would have been watching on when Ireland nicked a 1-1 draw against his native country in Gothenburg last April. He was at the helm when Pauw's team beat Australia 3-2 in a friendly at Tallaght Stadium 13 months ago, criticising his team's lack of desire in the aftermath.

Australia play the world No 2-ranked Swedes in Melbourne next month. That will be an interesting gauge of where his team are right now, with the Aussies harbouring ambitions of going deep into the knockout stages.

"If you look at what we've done over the last two years, we've targeted a lot of European teams because the statistics from way back are not too positive for us against European teams," Gustavsson added.

"If we look at our side of the bracket [tournament path beyond the group stages], we have England, Germany