Australia has lost 3-1 in the opening game of their 2015 Women’s World Cup campaign to the USA despite a promising first half performance.
USA proved too good in a dominant second half display, after the two teams entered the break with the score tied at 1-1.
Australia put on plenty of early pressure, but gave up the first goal of the match thanks to a deflected shot from USA’s Megan Rapinoe.
It was an ominous sign for the Aussies, with the world number one team scoring with their first real opportunity of the match against the flow of play.
The goal didn’t dishearten the Matildas, however, who levelled the scores in the 27th minute thanks to midfielder Lisa De Vanna.
They could have gone into the halfway mark with a lead if it weren’t for some brilliance from USA goalkeeper Hope Solo.
Sparkling form from the shotstopper saw several good chances from the Aussies plucked out of the air, keeping the match tied as the ends swapped.
Towards the end of the half it looked as though the Matildas were going to flag, and that’s exactly what happened. The USA began to assert themselves in the second half, and searched for the goal to tear the game open.
It would be the boot of Christen Press that would give the USA their lead, thanks to some slick setup work from Sydney Leroux down the side of the pitch.
The Matildas managed to hold on for another quarter hour before Rapinoe again knocked one into the bottom corner, to give the USA an imposing 3-1 lead.
Two goals were reward for a dominant second half, and the score wouldn’t change again as the Cup favourites started their campaign in style with a two-goal victory.
Hope Solo and Megan Rapinoe showed their class for the Americans, who cement their reputation as the best in the world with a well-earned victory.
It’s not all doom and gloom for the Matildas, who couldn’t quite win the crucial moments. They toiled hard, and will be positive ahead of their hitouts against Nigeria and Sweden.
Bondy
Guest
The little Thai's had a win over Côte d’Ivoire this morning 3-2 good on em although neither Nation will hop out of their group ...
MichaelJ.
Guest
They left their captain and their best goalkeeper at home. It's as if they were trying to undermine their efforts. Selections based on emotion or hunches invariably backfire. You must always put your best possible squad on the park.
TK
Guest
Which bit? Think US college football, college basketball, college golf teams ..same deal. The college system is the launching pad for professional sport careers in the US and is over the horizon compared to what we have here in Australia.
dasilva
Guest
Yeah I have to agree with vinnie. You don't insult the opposition especially one that just defeat you It's one thing to say that we were unlucky in the game. It's another thing to discredit the quality of the opponents. It sounds incredibly arrogant. We don't even do that when we thrash the opposition so we definitely shouldn't do it if we lost. Talk up your own team about how well we played in the first half and how unlucky we were is good but we shouldn't be overly critical of the US style of play when this article is more about the Australian team then the oppositoin. I mean the former is talking up your own team, the latter is denigrating the opposition. Also did Craig Foster wrote that FFA article as the "Staff Writer". There is a lot of Craig Foster-esque language there
vinnie
Guest
I think were the ones that are crying rivers, we really are bad sports
Bondy
Guest
Highly doubtful statement ...
TK
Guest
Even the womens college teams in the US would likely put our national set up to shame. Years ago I was speaking with a player from the US who was over here at uni for 12 months. In the US She trained at least three times a week travelled every week to play other college teams often by air and it was serious business to be picked to play for the college. Not suprising they are favorites with that sort of base to work off.
Waz
Guest
I saw the game and thought they were unlucky not to take the lead early on and fell behind to the USAs first chance of the game which took a wicked deflection on the way in. After that the states looked a really good side but the Matildas weren't outclassed by one of the tournaments favourites. Looking forward to an early start on Saturday :)
langou
Roar Guru
In fairness to the yanks. Imagine we beat them 3-1 and their official website had an article about how rubbish a team we are. I guarantee who Australian media and twitter wouldn't shut up for weeks
Bondy
Guest
pete4 True I watched that but you have to remember they're not use to being involved in International sports though ...
Ian
Guest
Yes unusually in this instance the USA seems to be overly concerned about one article written in Australia about the match. Generally we get too concerned about how the world/USA views us. Perhaps the article had some truth to it.
pete4
Guest
Got to say it was quite infuriating watching ESPN FC last night. American pundits thought we'd be little more than a speed bump
AZ_RBB
Guest
How many of our girls play football full time? Comparatively I wonder how many of the Americans play full time? Hard to expect part time athletes to have the same fitness as full time athletes.
Catnap
Guest
They trained for four months and ran out of puff alleyway was apparently injured during the game why wasn't she taken off as she cost us the last goal and possibly the second we should look at what the fitness trainers are doing as I believe the Socceroos are one of the fittest teams in the world??????
AZ_RBB
Guest
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/womens-world-cup-american-media-fires-up-over-ffa-interpretation-of-matildas-loss-to-usa-20150609-ghkcfz.html Cry me a river. We can interpret the game how we like.
TK
Guest
I watched japan v Switzerland today and have to say japan were pretty unconvincing. The swiss will be kicking themselves that they didn't at lesst get a point. Though japan defence generally did enough they looked sloppy in midfield and created few chances in attack.
Lazza
Guest
You miss the point yeah!
langou
Roar Guru
You have a record function on your TV yeah?
Lazza
Guest
Bit frustrating, SBS shows a lousy half hour highlights package at 5.30pm when most of us a sitting in the traffic or on a train, great commitment to football SBS!
Cugel
Roar Rookie
Bah. We were supposed to lose to nil.