Cooper: Australia must set a goal of coming here each year

Australia lined up for their do-or-die FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Morocco 2026™ clash with Mexico knowing only a victory could see them into their knockouts at their debut tournament.

Skippering the Mexicans was Citlalli Reyes, a certified tournament veteran who was making her 13th finals appearance to break the all-time record. It was her 35th-minute strike which made the difference, and pointed towards the gulf in experience between the sides.

"Games at international level really help performances, so 13 for her helps her show up," Australia coach Michael Cooper told FIFA at full-time. "It was a great finish. We highlighted that she would shoot from the edge of the box and she got a moment and took it, so fair play.

"We didn't create enough in the final third. We didn't really get any clear chances, so I'm' disappointed with that. But I can't fault the players' effort, attitude, application, all of that. Credit to Mexico, they fought hard and were a good challenge for us."

Australia begun their debut campaign with a hard-fought draw with Chile, before a 3-1 reverse at the hands of Spain and ended with the narrow loss to Mexico. Cooper recognised his side were up against it in Morocco, but won't let this experience wash over him and his players.

"It was a tough group coming in," he admitted. "But it's our job now to learn from this experience, regroup, let it hurt a little bit because we've got to learn from this, but also use everything that we've learnt to take home, develop the next group coming through and try and come back."

Seven of Cooper's 21-player squad were born in 2010 or later, and will be eligible for next year's event, which will also be held in the now familiar surroundings of Morocco.

"Those seven can take it into the next group with them; I think that's a real positive for us and that's part of our plan as well," he added. "They're also pretty much down the spine of the team, there's one player in each line now. So I think that's going to help because the next group coming through doesn't have a lot of international games either. And for the girls moving on to the U-20s, it's what they've learnt from this.

"At this level, you need to qualify to get more games, so we need to set a goal of coming here each year. Now, we need to go home and work in all our different programmes to make sure we've got that depth of players coming through. We've got to look forward and ask, 'how do we stay here every year?'"

For Cooper, though, coaching at a World Cup and leading his nation at their maiden finals has been an experience like no other, and further underlines the growing strength of the women's game.

"It's been so good to see all the other countries play and benchmark around that," he said. "There's clearly some here that are performing better than they ever have, so the future is going to be challenging. Women's football is growing and developing, so these experiences are crucial and we need to make sure we come back.

"We've loved it. The facilities are exceptional, the training facilities are great. It's a long way from home, but the girls have embraced it on and off the pitch. We've been really well looked after and it's been a really good experience."