Delay won't impact on Matildas performance says Sermanni

Matildas coach Tom Sermanni doesn’t believe the last minute decision to postpone the match against Canada by 24 hours will have any major impact on his team.

Matildas coach Tom Sermanni doesn-t believe the last minute decision to postpone the match against Canada by 24 hours will have any major impact on his teams performance.

FIFA dramatically postponed the game less than 2 hours before the kick-off, citing the typhoon situation in eastern China as the reason, despite Chengdu, being nowhere near the storm.

It did however affect the other group match between Norway and Ghana, which had to be moved back to the city of Hangzhou and delayed by 24 hours. FIFA then said both matches had to be played at the same time, hence the late change of plans.

"It's disappointing to find out about the match postponement so late,” Sermanni said earlier this morning. “But that aside, it allows all teams to compete on an equal footing.

"The players are relaxed about the postponement and taking it in their stride so the general mood in the camp is excellent."

While the 24-hour delay has disadvantaged Australia to some degree in terms of freshness for the match, although Sermanni dismissed those and said it meant some of his own players had the chance to get over niggling injuries.

"The extra day doesn't hurt in that it effects both teams equally, and also allows us an opportunity to recover further from a few little niggles and knocks."

Despite the delay, SBS will screen the match live tonight (Thursday) with the broadcast starting at 6.50pm AEST.