The second-youngest member of United's squad, Emily van Egmond, will join the Australian under-16 girls team as it prepares for the women's under-17 FIFA World Cup qualifiers which start next week.

Van Egmond was an integral part of United's 2-0 win over the Melbourne Victory on Saturday.

She slotted in just behind Ashleigh Sykes and Tseng Shu O in the front three, and played through United's pacey strikers again and again.

Her perfectly weighted through balls led to both goals to Taiwanese international Tseng and she was unlucky not to score herself when she found a loose ball in the box in the last 10 minutes, but sprayed it just wide.

Van Egmond said she had been happy to slot back into a midfield role rather than the wide one she played in the first game against Brisbane.

''I thought my performance was OK, I just much prefer that position rather than out wide, anywhere in the central midfield or that No10 position I really enjoy so I was happy to play that role,'' van Egmond said.

''It was just really good to get that win, we really needed it and the girls were pretty happy.''

But van Egmond was confident that Canberra would be able to continue its stellar form on the weekend, particularly with former Matilda Sally Shipard stepping into her role.

Shipard's return to soccer has been delayed with a hold-up on her international clearance from a Spanish futsal club, but she is a chance to finally play this weekend.

''She is a quality player,'' van Egmond said.

''She's very experienced and to have someone that like in the team is great, especially for the young girls coming through.''

For now van Egmond will switch her attention to Australian duty.

The Australian underage girls teams haven't qualified for either an under-17 or under-20 FIFA event since the under-20s team that played in Russia in 2006.

In the AFC under-16 Cup, which doubles as the qualifiers for the under-17 2011 World Cup, Australia has a tough group against Taiwan, China and Japan.

''We have a lot of different goalscoring options and we've been playing well,'' van Egmond said.

''So I hope that we can make that next step.''

United's only injury worry from the weekend was Cian Maciejewski's ankle, but it's likely she will be available to play against the Mariners.