Sally Shipard benched!

Sally Shipard writes from Hangzhou, China. The Matilda's take on group favourites Norway tonight, a game which can be seen live on SBS at 9:50pm.

Hi guys,

It’s game day and we are all more than prepared for Norway.



The starting line-up has been confirmed, a few fresh bodies have been called upon. This will certainly boost our game plan and we will be more than able to handle the strength component of the Norwegian game

Joey Peters has been ruled out because of her knee and I was ruled out until I just saw our team doctor and physio, I am now allowed to boot up (as long as I pad my swollen toe)...It's still very bruised, however I’m on the bench:-) so all the icing and elevation over the past two days has paid off.

The day after our win against Ghana was full of massages, physio and pool recovery.

The girls who didn’t get on the pitch had training in the afternoon. We had a video session after dinner, just went through some snippets of the Ghana game.

There are always things to improve on. Tommy used the opportunity to highlight the negatives. It always good to end a video session with some goals:-) scored by us of course!

Yesterday we did the 'touristy' thing and went for a boat ride on the West Lake. It was beautiful except for the all the pollution.

There was a thick blanket of smog, but apart from that it was nice learning the brief history of Hangzhou.

It’s match day! Little nervous, different nerves though being on the bench. It’s bizarre, a different kind of pressure. Let’s go Matildas!!!