DUB ZONE TALKING POINTS: An Adelaide United young gun continues to impress in her breakout season, but is patience the best course with her development?
The Dub Zone crew also debate whether Herve Renard is the best option to take over as coach of France ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
And Melbourne City young gun Naomi Chinnama talks about her match-saving clearance in their 1-1 draw with Sydney FC, along with her development as a footballer this campaign.
Here are the major Dub Zone talking points.
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Emilia Murray’s Matildas future
It’s been a breakout season for Adelaide United’s Emilia Murray.
The 18-year-old striker added a second goal for the season in their 2-2 draw with Newcastle Jets on Friday evening. Murray also played a starring role in the Young Matildas’ 2024 U-20 Asian Cup qualifying campaign, scoring four goals in two games against Guam and Kyrgyz Republic.
No wonder there are enormous wraps on her.
“I really like what we’re seeing form Emilia Murray, she’s an excellent young player,” former Matilda Grace Gill said.
“I think she’s potential a real future (player) of the Young Matildas and the Matildas setup.
“As years go on, whether she stays at Adelaide or moves around to another A-League Women club, I think it’s those kind of experiences domestically that will grow her into what could potentially be a future Matilda.
“I think she’s got the qualities that she can step up into that national team program, and I’m happy she’s not being rushed as well. I think that’s great.”
Dub Zone commentator Teo Pellizzeri also believes Murray has a massive future, but said the lack of external pressure on her to be rushed into the Matildas is a good thing for her own development.
“The thing I really like about her, is there’s no pressure to rush her into the national team any time soon,” Pellizzeri said.
“She’s allowed to develop, she’s allowed to grow in the A-League Women’s, the competition is getting longer. She has the skillset to be a Matilda – but there’s no pressure.
“If you talk about someone like (Holly) McNamara, get her in now because really I think she’s in our best 23… but with someone like Emila Murray, I think there are players in this demographic, like a Hana Lowry as well at Perth, it’s a slow burn. We can see the evolution of these players in the league.”
Playing for the Matildas is something Murray has in her sights, as she hopes to follow in the footsteps of one of Australia’s best and represent her nation at the highest level.
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“Play Matildas. Kind of follow Sam Kerr’s career. Play Matildas then go to Europe, play in the Women’s Super League,” she told KEEPUP in November.
“I want to use the A-Leagues to get more experience, put myself out there more. With Asian qualifiers coming up, just impress everybody as much as I can, show them what I have. Then hopefully work my way up to the Matildas.”
Renard in?
With just over 100 days to go until the FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off in Australia and New Zealand, France are on the lookout for a new coach after Corinne Diacre was fired.
Diacre was dismissed after an investigation into her tenure from the French Football Federation (FFF), after they found an “irreversible rift” between herself and a number of senior players – including captain Wendie Renard along with a host of senior players – who as a result, boycotted the national team.
Throughout the last week, French football legend Thierry Henry and current Saudi Arabia men’s coach Herve Renard have been linked with the role ahead of the tournament – but the former took himself out of the running.
In recent days, Renard has recently firmed as the favourite, with The Athletic confirming he is set to take over – which will be his first head coaching role in women’s football.
“I was so excited about that, give him the trophy if Herve Renard is the French manager. I mean, he’s won the the African Cup of Nations with Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire, and we saw what he did with Saudi Arabia at the Men’s World Cup,” Dub Zone commentator Teo Pellizzeri said.
The Frenchman has had enormous success on the international stage, winning the African Cup of Nations with both Zambia and Ivory Coast’s men’s national teams in 2012 and 2015 respectively.
He also orchestrated a famous victory as head coach of Saudi Arabia against eventual world champions Argentina at the 2022 FIFA World Cup – taking them within inches of progressing out of the group stage for the first time since 1994.
According to The Athletic, Renard’s appointment has been received positively by the French players. The need to get the coaching decision right by FFF was spoken about on Dub Zone, particularly surrounding the current turmoil going on in French football.
“Do you think France can get the appointment right? They are a plausible Australia opponent in a potential quarterfinal, maybe a semi final if we get that far. But what direction do you think France would go given that even though Diacre is gone, the resentment and actually getting the players on strike back onto the field hasn’t happened yet,” Pellizzeri said.
“I think you probably answered your own question in that appointment could not be more important. That appointment needs to be a figure that brings together those players you’ve just mentioned, and gives them everything in the right platform to thrive and we know the quality of those players is unbelievable,” Gill responded.
“They play in some of the best leagues in the world. They’re legends of the game, and we want to see them here in Australia and New Zealand playing in the Women’s World Cup so I’m not too fussed individually as to who that person is, as long as they can collectively bring together these champions of the women’s game and we see them here in 120 odd days.”
The desperate goal-line clearance that salvaged an all-important point for City
Melbourne City were dealt a major boost on the weekend with the return of emerging defender Naomi Chinnama.
The 18-year-old defender had missed just over a month due to a hamstring injury, but had recently returned to the pitch in City’s 2-0 Derby loss against Melbourne Victory as a substitute – before getting her first start back in the team against Sydney FC.
Chinnama made a desperate goal-line clearance to keep City in the contest, denying Princess Ibini late in the first-half and showcased her importance to their defensive set-up throughout her 71 minutes on the pitch.
“I was just like, where’s the ball? where’s the ball? Find the ball and I got the ball,” Chinnama said when asked about the clearance.
“I was just happy, it was just instinct, I suppose. You don’t really have too much time to think in that situation – everything was moving really fast.”
In the end, her clearance proved to be game-saving, as City went on to snatch a point in second-half stoppage time thanks to Kaitlyn Torpey’s late strike.
Chinnama was asked what it was like to be back on the pitch after such a long lay-off and whether she felt the team missed her voice down back while she was on the sidelines.
“I will say I missed being around the team,” Chinnama said
“But they’ve definitely held their end on the field, with or without me. They all work really well together and I think coming back onto the field, into that really just helped us be more united.
“I’m grateful for the time I got back onto the field and I’m happy!”
‘If she was Australian we’d be raving about her, to be honest!’
Wellington Phoenix’s Michaela Foster has had some season for Wellington Phoenix.
Foster – who is the daughter of All Blacks coach Ian – signed on a scholarship deal with Wellington in the off-season and has since taken her game to another level. Her performances at the U-20 World Cup with New Zealand initially caught the eye of the ‘Nix, but her performances under Natalie Lawrence has seen Foster take the next step.
The 24-year-old was given her first call-up to senior women’s side in February, making her debut as a substitute against Argentina.
But there’s one part of her game that’s particularly caught the eye of Pellizzeri and Gill during the Liberty A-League season.
“Arguably, their best one is the set piece taking of Michaela Foster. This player has been phenomenal, Grace (Gill). Left foot, right foot taking corner after the corner,” Pellizzeri said.
“Certainly a case where Foster has really got the A-League women’s to thank for her becoming a New Zealand bolter for their Women’s World Cup squad. Her dead ball delivery alone, she’s one of the revelations of the season and if she was Australian – we’d be raving about her to be honest!”
“I’m really enjoying watching Foster grow in this league and whether it be her corners, her set pieces, her delivery,” Gill responded.
“She’s just gotten better and better, week in, week out and there is starting to be a little bit of noise around the New Zealand national team and rightly so because she’s a player who’s putting her hand up and saying, Well, this is what I’m capable of and perhaps was never given the opportunity before.”
