Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson feels his team is building a game plan capable of consistently beating the world's best nations after watching Australia's 8-0 rout of the Philippines in Perth.
Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord scored hat-tricks in Sunday's huge win, which ensures the Matildas will progress to the final round of Olympic qualification in February.
The Matildas are still on a high following their dream run to the semi-finals of the Women's World Cup.
But the tournament also exposed an area that required urgent improvement - being able to play through rival teams instead of going over or around them.
Gustavsson said the way the Matildas continually broke through the Philippines' defence was proof of the strides the team had taken.
"When I arrived here three years ago a lot of people said that this team can't play when they're favourites, they need to be underdogs to perform," Gustavsson said.
"And (they said) this team can't break down parked buses when there's no space behind the backline.
"We have spent a tremendous amount of time to try to develop that. We took some steps already in the World Cup.
"The stats prove that we are one of the best teams in the world already to break the last line by getting in behind the backline, but we have improvement to do to break the first and second line.
"Stats also prove that we're really good at playing around teams and over teams, but playing through we need to get better.
"I'm extremely impressed by only (having) two training sessions and two video sessions that the players were able to play the way they did tonight."
Gustavsson said the way his players linked up in attack was the best he'd seen during his three-year tenure.
"I think (the performance against the Philippines) was a little bit of a crossroads moment for this team to be honest, in terms of what we want to be about," Gustavsson said.
"We want to be a top team in the world and be able to play like favourites and be able to play parked buses, and we proved today that we have taken massive steps."
