The Matildas are now one win away from AFC Women’s Asian Cup glory, after a nail-biting 2-1 win over China in their semi-final at Perth Stadium, in front of a roaring crowd.
The local girls began the match with intent, Mary Fowler ruing a missed opportunity to open the scoring in just the fifth minute, when she failed to bury a pinpoint Kaitlyn Torpey cross, with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Fowler’s woes were a distant memory on the stroke of 16 minutes though, as the Aussies jagged the lead.
In a movement that started with Fowler in the middle, she found Ellie Carpenter on the right who linked back up with Australia’s #11, whose superb cutback was buried by Caitlin Foord with expert precision.
Australia’s joy was short-lived though, as Mackenzie Arnold was ruled to have taken down Zhang Linyan in the penalty area, in a desperate attempt to shut down a one-on-one. Remonstrating with referee Supiree Testhomya that she made no contact, Arnold’s pleas were to no avail, and Linyan converted from the spot to bring the scores back to parity.
The defence of the Matildas showed uncharacteristic signs of vulnerability throughout the opening 45 minutes, with China cutting swathes down the centre passage – but the defending champions could not further capitalise on their first-half chances.
It was a tight opening to the second half, during which China’s pressure was beginning to tell, and it needed something special to make a difference.
Enter, local girl Sam Kerr.
As Torpey lunged on a loose ball and toed it on to Kerr, the skipper set Caitlin Foord down the left before taking off on her own run. Foord threaded the perfect ball to the flying Kerr, who rounded ‘keeper Peng Shimeng before weaving a left-footed finish into the back of the net from a near-impossible angle.
The momentum shift was palpable from this moment, as China turned to scrambling to remain in the contest, while the Matildas continued to press.
Emily van Egmond had to wait until the 93rd minute before joining the action, at the same time overtaking Clare Polkinghorne as the most-capped player in Matildas history, in her 170th match for the national side.
Despite the late tactical substitutions from both sides, the 2-1 scoreline would remain, with an adoring Perth crowd of 35,170 cheering the Aussies home to a narrow victory.
The Matildas will now play the winner of Wednesday’s second semi-final between Korea Republic and Japan in a hugely anticipated opportunity for Australian football, on Saturday night in Sydney.
MATCH REPORT
WHAT THEY SAID
JOE MONTEMURRO:
“We just need to play higher and be braver… but it’s tournament football and we got the result we wanted.”
“Caitlin (Foord) is a world-class player, that’s why I brought her to Arsenal!”
“We need to be better with the ball…smarter…the momentum is what gets you through.”
KATRINA GORRY:
“It wasn’t our prettiest game, but we got the win in the end.”
“We have learned a lot over the last four years… you push through and find a way to win.”
“I’m proud to be on the field and grateful to be in the team, and to learn from everyone around me.”
CAITLIN FOORD:
“It’s a massive relief…every minute we grew more and more into the game.”
“It was nice to be in control tonight and we got the job done… really proud of the girls.”
“I’ve definitely missed {Sam} out on the pitch… {the combination} just comes very naturally to us.”
EMILY VAN EGMOND:
“This is the reason why you play, to be on the world stage…the girls just dug deep…full focus now on the final.”
“We’ve spoken about {winning the tournament} as a group… we don’t know who we will play, but we will focus on ourselves and go out there and give it everything we’ve got.”
