A goal from Sam Kerr and another Alanna Kennedy brace were not enough as Australia were held to a 3-3 draw by Korea Republic and finish second in Group A at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
Korea Republic took an early lead when Mun Eun-Ju converted a swift counter-attack following a flurry of Australian chances. Goals from Alanna Kennedy and Sam Kerr gave the Matildas the lead going into half-time, but the introduction of Kang Chae-Rim proved too much to handle as she earned a penalty and then scored herself to flip the match back in their favour.
Kennedy slammed home an equaliser in the 98th minute, but Australia needed to claim all three points if they were to finish top of the group.
The draw, played in front of a crowd of over 60,000 at Stadium Australia, crowns Korea Republic as the winners of Group A on goal difference and means they will stay in Sydney for their quarter-final matchup, while Australia head to Perth and will face either China PR or DPR Korea.
Just five minutes into the battle for Group A, Steph Catley was struck on the head by a cross from Chloe Yu-Ri. She returned to the field after receiving medical attention, but was substituted 10 minutes later and replaced by Courtney Nevin.
The Matildas looked threatening and pieced together a couple of great chances in the opening 10 minutes, the first of which saw Ellie Carpenter pick out Caitlin Foord inside the area but she sailed her effort over the bar. Clare Wheeler won the ball back from the resulting goal kick and it fell perfectly for Katrina Gorry, but she failed to really test Kim Min-Jung.
Korea Republic made the hosts pay for their wastefulness almost immediately when Park Soo-Jeong played Yu-Gyeong Jeon in behind the Matildas’ defence and she curled the ball perfectly into Mun Eun-Ju who poked home from close range.
Australia had looked uncertain in the opening half an hour but as that period came to an end, Sam Kerr regained possession and played in Mary Fowler who saw her shot saved into the side netting. In the chaos that came from the resulting corner, Fowler’s volley found Alanna Kennedy within the crowd and she flicked in the equaliser.
Five minutes later, Fowler slid through a gorgeous, defence-splitting pass to Kerr and gave her a great chance to put Australia ahead but JinYoung Noh tracked back well and Kerr sprayed her shot wide.
Foord was tenacious in the closing stages of the first half and in the fifth of six added minutes, she surged forward and found Kerr in the box, who swept the ball home first-time to send the Matildas into the break with the lead.
Just five minutes into the second half, substitute Kang Chae-Rim fired a shot that struck the outstretched arm of Nevin inside the box and VAR awarded a penalty to the visitors. Korea Republic’s other half-time substitute Kim Shinji stepped up and converted the equaliser to Mackenzie Arnold’s left.
Kang built upon her explosive introduction when she was found in space on the right side of the penalty area a few minutes later. She shifted the ball onto her right foot and drilled a shot low and into the bottom left corner to reinstate Korea Republic’s lead.
The Matildas were unable to create as many chances in the second half but did manage to rescue a draw when Kennedy stormed into the box in the 98th minute and smashed the equaliser high into the net – her fourth goal in two games. Korea Republic held on and were full value for their point that secures top spot in Group A.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
PRESS CONFERENCE
WHAT THEY SAID
Sam Kerr
“We all know we needed to win tonight, so it felt like a loss to be fair. I think there were a few chances today that we probably should have put away… three goals is nice to score but three goals to concede is really disappointing.”
Alanna Kennedy
“Obviously I’m disappointed that we didn’t get the win but I think that the mentality towards the end is a sign of the Matildas that we know and love, so hopefully we can take that into the next match.”
Caitlin Foord
“I think we have ourselves to blame. We had a lot of chances, myself included, and I think (if) we put those away early on, it’s a different game.”
On her chemistry with Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler: “We obviously love playing with each other and it’s just about creating more, getting the ball more and having those chances to create. We need to do more of that going forward and take our chances, myself included in that.”
Joe Montemurro
“You never doubt the confidence and the fight but we need to manage games better. We were very patchy tonight and I think when you play (like that) against a quality team and they can retain the ball you’re not going to get the result you want.”
On what went wrong with the performance: “I think we were just careless. We didn’t get our distances right, the ball speed was a bit too slow at times. It’s a pity because in the first half we adjusted it tactically and it worked, then second half the whole idea was to manage the game and we got ourselves caught.”
On Alanna Kennedy’s form: “If you’re going to win football matches you need goals out of midfield and her timing is good. The goals haven’t been clean, they’ve been a bit scrappy and we’ve finished them through power and force but I’m more concerned with the ups and downs of the game where we just didn’t grab control in times when we could have.”
