Unfortunately for Australia their dominating performances have not reflected on the scoresheet after a 2-0 loss to Canada and a subsequent 2-2 draw to Germany at the 2016 Rio Olympics. A third place finish in Group F gives the Matildas an opportunity to make the Quarter-Finals, but need results elsewhere to go right for them.

The Matildas are now in Salvador awaiting to take on Zimbabwe who are ranked 93rd in the world and the odds stack heavily in Australia’s favour. And despite the expectation Australia should convincingly beat Zimbabwe, Stajcic was only looking at a win and progression past the group stage.

“We’re not worried about how many goals we’ve scored, we just want to score one more than the opposition, so long as we beat Zimbabwe I’ll be happy,” Stajcic said.

“That will push us into the Quarter-Finals and from then it doesn’t matter where you finish in your group so long as you’re there.

“Everyone starts again fresh and every game there is life and death for every team, our goal has always been to make the finals and so long as we score one more than Zimbabwe I’ll be happy.”

Zimbabwe were convincingly beaten in both of their encounters so far, a 6-1 demolition by Germany and then a 3-1 loss to the Canadians.

Stajcic pointed out the Zimbabweans had scored as many goals as Australia at the Olympics so far, however have looked more dangerous.

The Matildas boss was also confident after what was displayed in the first two games and looked to hit the Mighty Warriors where it hurts.

“I know if we play to our best, we’ll be the better the team,” he said boldly.

“It’s up to us to make sure we’re the better team on the field and on the scoreboard. We’re certainly not taking them lightly.

“We’ve analysed Zimbabwe and like we do for every other team, look for the strengths and weaknesses. They’re big, athletic and strong, but they have some weaknesses and we’ll look to expose those.”

Despite the predicament the Matildas find themselves in, Stajcic was still adamant they could take something from the Olympics after their impressive performance against Germany.

“For us to win a medal in this competition we have to go into every match and execute all our chances, we had all the possessions and shots against Canada as well, but we didn’t win,” he said.

“We have the makings of a good team, but at the moment the results haven’t gone our way because we lacked composure in the front third and possibly some naïve mistakes at the back too.

“The game the other day against Germany fuelled that fire for them to know they’re good enough to beat anyone on the day if we play at that level and we can, so our goal is to keep improving.”