Montemurro to coach Matildas: former captain approves
If Joe Montemurro is finally named Matildas coach, then it's about time, says Australian football great and former captain Melissa Barbieri.
Montemurro is poised to leave French club Lyon at season's end to take up the Matildas role that has been vacant amid a protracted recruitment process since Tony Gustavsson departed last August.
Interim coach Tom Sermanni appears likely to finish up after Australia's clashes with Argentina in Melbourne on May 30 and Canberra three days later, nine months out from the home Women's Asian Cup.
One of Australia's top women's coaching exports, Montemurro was in the mix when Gustavsson was appointed in 2020.
While he has publicly been coy about his future, French outlet L'Equipe reported on Tuesday Montemurro would depart Lyon following the Premiere League play-offs, with a year left on his contract, to return to Australia.
"It's about time, really, if he's going to be the coach," Barbieri told AAP.
"If it is him, I feel like he has been waiting for this moment for a long time himself.
"For whatever reason, the contracts always overlapped at the wrong time - couldn't quite sneak it in.
"But now, if they've held off this long (on appointing a coach) in order to secure him, it had to have happened one way or the other - either Joe held off, or the FA held off.
"And I'm kind of glad that it took this long... if that's been the reason."
Montemurro, 55, first broke into the mainstream as Melbourne Victory's A-League Women coach before joining Melbourne City for their inaugural season, where his team went unbeaten and claimed the premiership-championship double.
He won the Women's Super League title and League Cup at Arsenal and silverware in Italy with Juventus.
Montemurro has coached several top Australian talents, headlined by Steph Catley, Ellie Carpenter and Caitlin Foord.
"He'll do so well, because he knows us," Barbieri said.
"If you've ever had a World Cup or an Olympics, Joe is always at the games. He's always in the crowd.
"I bumped into him at the Olympics, watching the games. He was talking about Lyon and doing all that stuff.
"But he knows us inside out, and he knows these players, since they were babies.
"If it so happens, it would be so special."
Barbieri, the Melbourne City veteran goalkeeper, has seen first-hand the development of young guns, led by striker Holly McNamara, starting to crack the Matildas fold.
She believes Sermanni has integrated young players in a way that will allow them to thrive under a permanent coach.
Captain when the Matildas won their only Asian Cup title in 2014, Barbieri is adamant they can repeat the feat on home soil - 20 years after they were finalists in Adelaide.
"One hundred per cent, we're capable," Barbieri said.
"If you would have asked me in 2010 if we're capable, I would have said no. Now I know we are.
"It's just a matter of what other countries are doing and how much resources they're pumping into the game, but we are definitely able to.
"I feel like a home Asian Cup is the place to do it as well. That would be awesome."
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