The Socceroos will return to Canberra at the end of March for the second leg of their World Cup qualifying campaign against Lebanon, but hopes of luring the Matildas back to the capital are fading.
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The ACT government and Football Australia will confirm the Socceroos-Lebanon game on Friday morning after Lebanon agreed to shift its home game to Australia.
The midweek game will be played on March 26, just five days after the first game in the series at Parramatta.
But while the Matildas were also mentioned in discussions about Canberra hosting international matches, the city is facing years waiting for a chance as states and fans clamber to watch the darlings of Australian sport.
The Matildas booked their ticket to the Paris Olympic Games with a thumping win against Uzbekistan on Wednesday night, engineered by a four-goal first-half effort from Canberra star Michelle Heyman.
Football Australia had initiated discussions about Canberra hosting the team, potentially for an exhibition game or an Olympic farewell.
But given the Matildas just played in front of 54,000 fans at their 12th sellout game in a row, Canberra is understood to have dropped down the pecking order as cashed up bigger states race for rights.
With limited opportunities to get the Matildas' strongest line-up together before heading to Paris, Canberra is understood to be out of the running for fixtures for the rest of this year and the foreseeable future given the ACT government struggles to match big-money appearance fees paid by other states.
The news isn't all bad, though, for the capital's football community. Heyman is on the cusp of a shock Olympic spot, while the Socceroos will play against Lebanon this month.
The Matildas have played just one game in Canberra in the past decade - scoring a 3-1 win against New Zealand in front of 13,077 fans in 2022.
The team's popularity has exploded since the World Cup last year, with fans, sponsors and governments clambering for a slice of the pie.
It means Canberra has to compete with Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle for matches and the deciding factor usually comes down to the financial deal available.
ACT Sport Minister Yvette Berry said: "We're continuously working with Football Australia to get international football content. The Matildas were in Canberra in 2022, and we will be pushing hard for them to return to Canberra soon."
Coach Tony Gustavsson also has the unenviable task of trying to cut players from his squad to meet the Olympic guidelines, with ecstasy to turn to agony for some.
The coach has to cut down his 22-player squad to just 18 for Paris, with only six potential international games across three windows left for players to make late auditions.
"Everyone's quite aware that the Olympics squad's a lot smaller than our regular 22, 23 player squads for competitions like this," defender Clare Hunt said.
"So it's always been cut-throat. That's the nature of the Matildas set-up, everyone's competing for a spot and everyone wants game time.
"That's the nature of the sport, and there is a competitiveness within the squad. But it's also healthy competition too. So it's great."
While plenty of the squad picks itself, the final positions will give Gustavsson some headaches.
Heyman and new San Diego Wave signing Kaitlyn Torpey both pressed their selection cases, with the latter impressive in her first call-up.
"[Torpey] is selected based on performance. She's not in here to be developed, she's in here because she's ready to train in our environment," Gustavsson said after Wednesday night's 10-0 crushing of Uzbekistan.
"In the first three days, we were very positively surprised at how quickly she adjusted to the tempo. The last time I saw a player do that that quickly was when Clare Hunt came in a year ago.
"You don't know until they come into this environment how quickly they can adjust to it, because it is a different level.
"And she did it and that's why she started."
Striker/midfielder Amy Sayer scored her first goal in Wednesday night's game, and has impressed in limited opportunities.
Chloe Logarzo and Clare Wheeler didn't play a minute of either leg against the Uzbeks, while Cortnee Vine sat out the series for personal reasons.
The Matildas boss will remain in Australia to watch some A-League Women games before returning to Europe.
Australia's next window is in April, when they will play Mexico.
"We do have some ideas of what we want to do but in terms of games it's almost limited - you have the national team days that you have and you're trying to make the most out of it," Gustavsson said.
"We always look at playing different types of opposition. We want to play away and at home.
"I'm going to use those games to check back in on the process. Where are we? What do we need to do from a core group standpoint?
"Meaning there's limited minutes to prepare the core group of players that I know is going to go to the Olympics - and they need the games - but maybe also I need to look at a few players to make decisions.
"So finding that sweet spot and that balance is going to be key."