That was the message Caitlin Foord issued to Novocastrians ahead of Friday night's Olympic qualifier against Vietnam at McDonald Jones Stadium.

It will be the third time in four years that the Australia women's football team have flexed their muscles at our stadium but this game will carry by far the most meaning.

It was friendly fire when they beat Brazil 3-2 in Newcastle in September 2017 then Chile 5-0 in November 2018.

But tonight Olympic qualification is on the line and Foord believed the Matildas would be on another level.

"We're in a different place," Foord told the Newcastle Herald this week. "That was a friendly back then and everyone was kind of all over the place whereas now we've had time to focus on what we're looking forward to and everyone's in a good place, mentally and physically.

"I think Newcastle will see a different side of the Matildas that they didn't see then. It's a massive game for us and we're happy to have it here in Newcastle."

Related content:

The match is the opening leg of a home-and-away qualifier with the winner on aggregate across the two matches booking passage to the Toyko Olympics in July.

Kerr and Foord arrived in Newcastle early this week after the Australian captain's Chelsea beat Foord's Arsenal 2-1 for the Women's Continental League Cup at Nottingham Forest's City Ground on Saturday.

Both were suffering a severe case of jetlag when the Herald caught up them in Newcastle on Tuesday, but were confident they would be firing Friday night.

"Obviously it's a massive game for us to qualify for the Olympics, so we're really excited and I think Australia is going to really get behind us and hopefully have a big crowd at this game and that makes it a little bit more exciting as well," Foord said.

The pair will spearhead the hosts' attack and have both had success in Newcastle. Kerr celebrated a brace in Australia's thrilling win over Brazil here with a trademark backflip while Foord was the other scorer in that game then produced a hat-trick on the same ground against Chile.

"It's a big game and it's not often you get to qualify for Olympic Games or have the opportunity to so we're pumped," Kerr said.

"It's special coming to play here. I know it is for Em [Emily van Egmond], being her home town. It's just a small community which is always nicer."

Australia go into the match expected to dominate but Kerr said "there's no easy games in women's football any more".

The Matildas progressed through the group phase in Sydney last month unbeaten, beating Chinese Taipei 6-0 and Thailand 6-0 and recording a 1-1 draw with China.

"I think the China game, we didn't play our best but to show that fight at the end just shows what type of team we are," Kerr said. "We really showed that we weren't going to give up and ... these two next games are going to be no different."

One player in particularly outstanding form throughout the group phase was Newcastle's Emily van Egmond, who scored a hat-trick against Thailand, produced the injury-time equaliser in the China match and had a hand in several other goals.

"Em's having a great [W-League] season," Kerr said. "The hole in the Jets shows how big a player she is and obviously she's been killing it at City, but she's been doing it in the national team too. She had a few injuries, so it's good to see her back."

The match kicks off at 6.30pm.

SIGN UP TODAY: For the best coverage of sport in Newcastle and the Hunter, subscribe to the newcastleherald.com.au/lovesport for unlimited digital access.