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As the matildas ramp up their preparations for next year's women's world cup in Brazil, the junior matildas are eyeing off their own historic tournament. They have qualified for next month's under 17 women's world cup for the first time, and will be led by some of the brightest young talent in the country.

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00:03It's the opportunity of a very young lifetime for this crop of junior Matildas.
00:09I love this.
00:09I love coming to camp, seeing everyone, seeing the staff, playing good football and looking
00:14towards the World Cup.
00:15Super, super excited.
00:16Willa Pearson became the youngest ever A-League debutante last season at 14.
00:22And a few months later at 15, she broke Sam Kerr's record as the youngest goalscorer.
00:27But the Sydney FC defender is keeping a level head.
00:31I can remember my first game, I was so, so nervous, but just trying to kind of compartmentalise
00:36what I'm doing.
00:37I'm just playing football.
00:38I've done it for ages now.
00:4017-year-old Maeve Nicholas plays for Adelaide United and has a similar outlook.
00:45Just enjoying the experience and then also making an impact and showing that Australian
00:50football, compared to the rest of the other nations, is capable of achieving amazing things.
00:55We want to perform, want the girls to express themselves, be brave, be bold, make themselves
01:02proud before making other people proud.
01:06Coach Mike Cooper says looking after the person is just as important as the player and has
01:11brought in different team building techniques, like getting players to share inspirational quotes.
01:17My quote is, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.
01:20And I think that resonates with me a lot because, you know, I'm always willing to work hard.
01:25My quote was, 1% better every day.
01:27So just trying to make sure everything you have that comes towards you, good or bad, you
01:32take a little bit out of that and see if you can be better the next day.
01:34Not cliches, but sage advice for players of all ages.
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