Melbourne Victory stars Laura Alleway, Emily Gielnik and Teigen Allen have been named in the Westfield Matildas’ squad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The trio were included in Ante Milicic’s 23-player squad for the tournament, which begins in France next month.
While Alleway heads to the showpiece event for the third time, Allen is set for her second and Gielnik her maiden appearance.
Alleway, Gielnik and Allen played key roles to help Victory win its first Westfield W-League Premier’s Plate in 2018-19.
“I’m loving it,” Alleway, 29, said on Tuesday.
“This one, I think I’m going in with sort of the feeling of this is coming towards the end of my career so I’m trying to soak up every minute and really just enjoy it and you can see that I am.
“I’m loving it and it’s such a good group of girls that have been selected and I think this is going to be a really special one.”
Australia is ranked sixth in the world and is tipped to be one of the contenders in France and Gielnik said the squad was embracing the expectations.
“I feel like at this time with this group and this current period of time, we’re ready to rise to the occasion,” the 27-year-old attacker said.
“You just get that feeling, you can’t really explain it, it just feels that within the group whenever we’re in camp together, it just feels like it was meant to be us going to the World Cup and performing well.
“We’ve got high expectations for ourselves as well as the public. I think we’re going to do really well.”
Victory attacker Kyra Cooney-Cross, 17, is on standby for the squad.
Australia begins its Group C campaign against Italy on June 9 before facing Brazil (June 14 AEST) and Jamaica (June 19 AEST).
