AUSTRALIA coach Tom Sermanni regards Wednesday's women's soccer World Cup clash with Canada as the most important in the Matildas' history, as his team ready themselves for a "grudge match" with an old rival.
Top of the group on goal difference from Norway, Australia will advance to the quarter-finals for the first time in four World Cup campaigns with a draw against Canada in Chengdu.
However, the Matildas will have to wait another day to find out where they finish in the group and who they will play in the quarter-finals.
The other group C game between Norway and Ghana in Hangzhou has been put back a day because of the impending typhoon Wipha.
If Australia plays Brazil in the quarter-finals, it will have one more day of rest than the South Americans, whose group D clash with Denmark in Hangzhou has also been pushed back to Thursday.
Sermanni suggested it would be disastrous for Australia to deviate from its usual philosophy of playing to win, even though they needed only a point tomorrow to advance.
"If we do think that, it's almost a guarantee that we'll probably lose the game," said Sermanni.
Australia have a record of six wins, five losses and two draws against Canada, who at No.9 are ranked six places above the Matildas.
Asked about the significance of the match in the history of Australian women's soccer, Sermanni said: "Well, this now ranks as the most important. I don't want us to become a nearly team where you did well but just fell down at the last hurdle."
Matildas skipper and defender Cheryl Salisbury, who participated in the three previous World Cup campaigns, regarded the outcome of the clash as vital for the future of women's football in Australia.
"We want the game to keep progressing and the only way to do that is to keep getting good results and I really believe this team is capable of going through to the quarter finals and doing well again," Salisbury said.
"Canada is probably thinking exactly the same thing and the game is going to be one of the toughest we've played in a long time.
"There's been a few games against the Canadians and for a while we were playing them quite often, so that's where that grudge match comes in."
Sermanni said he would make at least four changes to the team that started against Norway.
However, he suggested he would again start one of his speedy strikers, Lisa De Vanna or Sarah Walsh on the bench.
Sermanni denied his team had over-achieved and was confident it could deal with the pressure tomorrow, after playing a host of Olympic qualifiers and Asian Cup games over the last year.
"We've got a team that can cope with big games," Sermanni said. "The key thing for us is to try and control midfield and control possession, so we dictate the tempo of the game."
He nominated prolific scorer Christine Sinclair as Canada's key player and said her fellow striker Kara Lang and midfield player Candace-Marie Chapman were other players who could cause trouble for Australia.
Matildas' biggest test
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