Emily van Egmond will be Newcastle's first athlete in action in Tokyo when the Matildas start their Olympics campaign against New Zealand on Wednesday night.
The Newcastle 28-year-old has played at three FIFA Women's World Cups and Tokyo will be van Egmond's second Olympics after representing Australia in Rio de Janeiro five years ago.
The midfielder will be one of the most experienced players in Tony Gustavsson's Matildas squad. Van Egmond became just the eighth player to reach 100 appearances for the Matildas last month and is one of only three players in the current squad to have reached the milestone. Clare Polkinghorne and Elise Kellond-Knight have also achieved the feat.
Women's football, alongside softball, will commence its tournament before the Tokyo Games opening ceremony.
It means the Matildas' first group match against New Zealand will be in prime viewing and Gustavsson says they will embrace it, rather than shrink away.
"Just spontaneously my reaction is: what a great opportunity for us, to play with that spotlight on us and feel that," Gustavsson told AAP.
"We want to play our best when the best is needed and also that opening game is one of the most important games for us.
"We're only focused right now on that opening game, because that's what we need to do then once that's finished, we then focus on Sweden and then when that's finished we focus on the US."
Australia have never won an Olympic medal for football. The Matildas go into the tournament ranked No.9 in the world and are chasing their first win under Gustavsson.
The clash with world No.22 - and 2023 Women's World Cup co-hosts - New Zealand will be crucial.
Realistically, Australia need three points before facing world No.5 Sweden and the top-ranked United States if they are to progress from group G. The top two teams from the three groups and the two best-ranked third-place finishers progress to the quarter-finals.
Australia have a dominant record against the Football Ferns. They have recorded 30 wins, six draws and seven losses against their Trans-Tasman rivals, who have had a limited build-up in terms of friendly matches.
It will be the Matildas' fourth appearance at an Olympics. Their first came on home soil in Sydney in 2000. Four years later in Athens, they reached the quarter-finals for the first time where they were beaten by Sweden.
The Matildas did not qualify for the Beijing (2008) or London (2012) Olympics but were back in the quarter-finals when they made their Games return in Brazil. They lost their quarter-final to host nation Brazil in a penalty shoot-out.
Key for the Matildas will be getting their Sam Kerr-led attack up and running.
Kerr is goalless in five friendlies under Gustavsson but he lauded her leadership.
"[Kerr] can be the funniest, most energised, high-energy, spreading energy and positivity around her in one second," he said. "But then it's business the next second - she has switched on, and she demands everyone around her to be switched on as well because now it's go time.
"The ability to turn on and off that quickly is a unique skill set for the best athletes and the best leaders and she has that."
The Matildas' Olympic squad has several players competing in their second Games while eight are set to make their Olympic debut. They include boom teenagers Mary Fowler and Kyra Cooney-Cross, who have provided a spark in recent friendlies.
The game against New Zealand will be played at Tokyo Stadium and kicks off at 9.30pm AEST on Wednesday night.
Twelve nations are vying for Olympic gold in women's football in Tokyo.
The other qualified nations are Brazil, Canada, Chile, China PR, Great, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United States and Zambia.
