Chloe Logarzo believes women’s football in Australia will only continue to go from strength to strength – highlighted by Australia’s bid for the 2023 women’s World Cup.
Logarzo and her Sydney FC teammates will return to the shire on Sunday when they host their W-League clash with Brisbane Roar at Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda.
The Sutherland Shire is known as one of the strongest areas for women’s football in the country with huge participation rates and strong support of W-League matches over a number of years.
Australia’s World Cup bid was officially launched in late October and Logarzo told the Leader women’s football was taking “massive steps.”
“It’s getting better, our domestic league is growing outrageously the last few years,” she said.
“[The step up from W-League to international football] is massive. It really is. And the step from NPL to W-League is big as well. I think we need to close the gaps between.
“But we’re getting there. We’re getting mad international players coming in from five or six different countries which is cool, that’s never happened before.
“We just need to extend our league so it’s more consistent again so we can take it from a semi-professional league to a professional league so more players can focus on football.
“Because at the current time besides the Matildas everyone still has a full-time job and is still working around them so they can train.
“We’re taking massive steps towards that.”
Matildas midfielder Logarzo has made a bright start to the season despite the Sky Blues’ indifferent form.
The 23-year-old scored twice in the opening three games but Sydney have struggled, with a win over Western Sydney followed by defeats to reigning champions Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory at Kogarah and Canberra United.
And Logarzo said she still had plenty of improvement in her leading into next year’s World Cup in France and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“There’s always heaps of room to grow. But I’m happy with the fact I’m becoming a more consistent player. I can just keep going and do what I need to do. I just need to keep working hard and not let anything get to my head, I guess,” she said.
“It’s down to a few factors. I’m getting older, I’ve played more international games so I’m understanding the game a little bit more.
“I think it comes down to working a lot harder. I’m putting a lot more hours in outside of training as well working on all the things I’m not good at. I feel that’s a massive part for my game. I need to do one better or two better than everyone else so I know that I’m going to keep growing.
“I’m still very young. So I always need to be learning. I’m trying to gain some weight so I’m getting bigger as I’m not as tall as everyone else. So there’s a few little things that I’m trying to work out.”
Kick-off on Sunday is at 4pm.
