Matildas World Cup star Kyah Simon says the Matildas have left no stone unturned in preparing for their opening group game at the Rio Olympics and believes that the Australians have the tools to beat Canada on Wednesday (Thursday 4am AEST).

After a disappointing home World Cup last year Canada have brought a young side to Brazil, and in a pre-Olympics warm up game suffered a narrow 1-0 loss to highly rated France.

The Canadians are also the reigning Olympic Bronze medallists but even so Simon believes the Aussies have what it takes to get a win in their first showing at Rio 2016.

“It’s going to be a tough battle,” she said. “We are preparing like any other game. Since it’s out first game of the tournament we have been focusing on our shape and weaknesses throughout training as well as doing some video analysis -  just on their strength and weaknesses – so it’s a combination of that, so it will put us in good stead leading into the game.

“They’ve obviously had a good history in previous Olympics and major tournaments. They’ve got a lot of experience and some new faces in the team and it freshes up their line-up. So it’s going to be a good challenge but I believe with the ability that we have within the team, that if we play to our potential that we do have a really good chance of getting the win.”

 The Matildas play their first two group games in Brazil’s most populous metropolis and if they make the semi-finals will move on to Rio but at the moment Simon is taking in the local ambience and atmosphere of Brazil’s famous football town.

“I really like Sao Paolo as a city,” she said. “It’s got quite a different feel to Fort Aleza where we were for our pre-Olympics tour, definitely being in the heart of Brazil and heart of football is going to create a huge and memorable atmosphere for the Olympics. Obviously Brazilians are crazy about their football and to be here for the biggest sporting event in the world is going to be a very good experience and I’m hoping that we can top that off by it being a successful one at that.”