Matildas Rout Canada 4-0
There were 27,000 fans at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on scene for Australia’s 4-0 drubbing of Canada. With the vast majority of them being Matilda fans, there was never much angst amongst the crowd in this one.
The Aussies immediately took the game to the Canadians and just 9 minutes in found the matches opening goal.
Caitlin Foord sent Steph Catley through down the left wing with a beautifully weighted pass and the skipper sent a ball through the 18-yard box. After taking a couple of deflections the ball fell at the foot of Hayley Raso at the edge of the box and she placed a shot perfectly into the bottom left corner of the net.
Just like that the Aussies were up one. Or so they thought. The flag was up for offside, and a collective gasp went out amongst the crowd. After VAR review however, it was evident that there was no offside and the goal was awarded.
Australia then thought they had doubled their lead in the 34th minute off the foot of Mary Fowler but once again a VAR review took place and this time, the outcome was not in favour of the Matildas.
The disappointment could have been a turning point, but the Aussies were determined, and just six minutes later found the net once again.
A corner kick that swept its way into the six-yard box was left pinballing off defenders before again landing at Raso’s feet as she put it in the net.
Up 2-0 at halftime, all was well for the Matildas and Canada was left scrambling. Canadian coach Bev Priestman made four substitutions at halftime to try and turn the match around.
The Matildas handled Canada’s adjustments brilliantly and played stubborn defense to go along with their trademark counterattacking football.
The dagger came in the 58th minute as Caitlin Foord made her way down the left side of the pitch all the way to the byline before dragging a ball back to the edge of the six-yard box to a wide-open Mary Fowler who tucked it in off the post.
Steph Catley would add another from the penalty spot in the 95th minute to complete the 4-0 annihilation.
The loss for Canada marked the first time in Women’s World Cup history that the reigning Olympic champions were eliminated in the group stage.
Round of 16 Outlook for the Aussies
With the victory and Nigeria’s draw with Ireland, the Matildas advance as the top team in group B. They will likely face off against eitherDenmark or China, ranked 13th and 14th in the world in the round of 16.
Sam Kerr Makes an Impact Without Touching the Pitch
Sam Kerr’s fitness was the biggest question mark for this Matilda’s side in the lead up to the game.
Kerr herself had claimed she was available, and she was on the bench. Given the nature of the game coach Tony Gustavsson wasn’t forced to decide on putting her in the game or not.
However just because she didn’t play doesn’t mean she didn’t have an impact.
Post-match, Gustavsson revealed that before the game Kerr had told her teammates: “Make sure you win without me, so that I can get another week to train and recover.”
It appears that message was heard loud and clear across the room given the Matilda’s performance on the pitch.
