Australia’s beloved Matildas get their Paris Olympic Games campaign underway in the early hours on Friday morning (3am AEST) when they take on Germany. It’s a blockbuster fixture to get proceedings underway and we have you covered with a preview and best bet below. Good luck to everyone following!
2024 Paris Olympic Games – Women’s Soccer
Matildas vs Germany (Friday 3am AEST)
Drawn into the ‘Group of Death’ the Matildas will begin their Paris Olympics campaign hoping to secure the all-important three points to take the early ascendancy in Group B.
The Matildas have continued to improve their results on the big stage in almost an impressive trajectory. Most recently they made it to the semi-finals at the 2023 World Cup on home soil where they were defeated by the eventual champions, England (3-1).
A huge result like that breeds confidence and although the Matildas will be without a couple of key players this time around, namely Sam Kerr (injured), they’ll be quietly confident they can create history by securing their first medal at an Olympics.
The Matildas' lead up form has been good without being great. They lost their most recent hitout against the #8 ranked Canada (2-1), but were on a five-game unbeaten run prior to that.
Meanwhile, Germany travels to Paris as one of the key favourites to win the gold medal. Ranked #4 in the latest FIFA rankings, the Germans will be eyeing off their second gold medal from their past three Games, after winning it all in Rio back in 2016.
Germany have had plenty of success on the world stage. They’ve medalled in each of their past four Games when they’ve qualified, and they’ve also won two World Cups since the turn of the millennium.
However, the Germans didn’t enjoy any success in a largely underwhelming 2023 World Cup campaign. They failed to advance from the group stage for the first time ever, which has led to plenty of change in both personnel and in the coaching ranks ahead of Paris 2024.
Match Prediction: Despite the Aussies recent success at major tournaments, it’s the Germans who enter this Group B fixture as the clear favourites. They’re currently trading at around the $1.60 mark at most bookmakers, whereas you can get as much as $5 for the Aussies to win.
These nations have only faced each other twice in the past dozen years so there’s little H2H form to speak of, although Germany did win comfortably when they last met in their 2021 friendly (5-2).
Regardless of that, the Matildas will be full of confidence after their heroics in 2023 and certainly deserve to be more competitive in the betting markets than currently priced. With that said, I’m keen to take them to secure at least one point on Friday morning.
Australia to Win or Draw
$2.20 (1.5 Units)
