Emily van Egmond eyes Paris Olympics after claiming NWSL shield

The 30-year-old Wave midfielder and long-serving Matilda is one of two Newcastle products along with Everton's Clare Wheeler in Tony Gustavsson's 22-player squad named for three Asian Qualifiers in Perth over the next week.

Australia begin their path to Paris against Iran at a sold-out HBF Park on Thursday night (10pm AEDT) before facing the Philippines on Sunday then Chinese Taipei three days later.

It will be the first time the Matildas have come together since making an historic semi-final appearance at this year's World Cup on home soil and igniting a women's sport movement.

"We've spent a little bit of time away now and we've been in our clubs, and to be able to all get together again is great and our team morale is always high, so I'm excited to see the rest of the squad," van Egmond told media on Monday after being among the first Matildas to arrive in Perth from their overseas clubs.

"The World Cup was something special and once that was over we all had to enjoy it in our own ways. But then to be able to come back together again and see the hype is amazing - the Australian public getting behind this team - so I hope it continues.

"It was huge for us throughout that tournament, so hopefully it's huge for us now with these qualifiers because it's going to be extremely important for us to have three strong performances."

Van Egmond, who returned from a debilitating back injury to play a pivotal role for Australia in her fourth World Cup, flew into Perth over the weekend and watched on as Newcastle went down 1-0 to Glory in A-League Women on Sunday.

The Jets are hopeful they can secure the Dudley Redhead junior for a guest stint this campaign after she plays NWSL finals with San Diego in November.

In just their second season, van Egmond's Wave finished top of the competition to claim the shield.

"It was amazing," van Egmond said.

"You create your own luck, at the end of the day. We were relying on a result and it went out way.

"To win the league in my opinion is massive. To be the most consistent team in a competitive competition over there is very good, especially being the second year of an expansion team.

"Now, we'll look forward to a semi-final and hopefully create history again."

But first, the focus is on the job at hand in Perth.

The winner of the Matildas' Group A will join the winners of Group B and Group C, as well as the best-ranked runners-up, in the third round of the Asian Qualifiers in February. The winners of two home-and-away series progress to Paris.

Van Egmond has 135 caps for the Matildas and has been to two Olympics already. Wheeler, with 14 caps for her country, was unused by Gustavsson during the World Cup and the No.6 will be keen to seize any opportunity given in Perth.

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