It has been an absolutely remarkable week for the Matildas, who are currently in the United States competing in the Tournament of Nations against three of the top ten best female football teams in the world: Japan, the United States and Brazil.
Last Friday was a historic day for women’s football in Australia, with the Matildas recording their first ever win against the United States.
We talk about New Zealand dominance in men’s rugby or Queensland dominance in State of Origin – up until last Friday the United States had it all over Australia in women’s football, with the USA winning all of the previous 27 contents. In the last 12 years the Matildas have not even managed a draw.
The breakthrough came in the 67th minute with Emily van Egmond kicking the ball to Tameka Butt, who sent the ball into the net from short range.
While there were plenty of stand-out performances in this game, I wanted to make special mention of Lydia Williams’s efforts during this game. Not only did the Australian goal keeper deny Megan Rapinoe, one of the best female footballers in the world, with a one-handed stop, she also denied Carli Lloyd twice during the game.
My favourite moment, though, was when she used her leg to stop Crystal Dunn in a one-on-one contest with just five minutes to go .
The importance of this victory cannot be understated. While this may be just a friendly tournament, Alan Stajcic’s team is working towards an Asian Cup in 2018 and a World Cup in 2019.
A victory in this game not only gave Australia confidence heading into their next but would also undoubtedly have United States football fans talking about this team from down under.
But success did not stop there. The Matildas’ next game was against Japan earlier this week, and they finished with a 4-2 victory partly due to a stunning performance by Sam Kerr.
I would go as far as saying that Sam Kerr is the most in-form footballer in the world at the moment following her first international hat-trick during this game, showing the world how good she is at backflipping.
While this hat-trick has football fans all over the world talking about Kerr, it’s simply the continuation of what has been a tremendous year for her. Kerr is currently playing for Sky Blue FC in the National Women’s Soccer League and in 15 games has already scored 11 goals and had three assists. This puts her second for goals scored in the National Women’s Soccer League, behind Megan Rapinoe.
My favourite performance of hers so far this year was in the Sky Blue FC match against FC Kansas City last month. Kerr scored three goals in the last 12 minutes to help lead her team to a 3-2 victory after trailing 0-2.
While preparation for the Asia Cup and the World Cup is ongoing you’ll recall that Australia is making a bid to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
With each victory, particularly overseas, Australia’s case to host the tournament strengthens, with increased interest in Australian football from people all over the world.
This week the Matildas also attended a function in Los Angeles with diplomats and consulate officials. This is the first such function since the bid was announced, and with the Matildas so dominant up until this point in the Tournament of Nations I expect there will be plenty of people in the room wanting to meet women like Sam Kerr, Tameka Butt, Lydia Williams and Allana Kennedy.
The Matildas’ next game is this morning, 4 August, at 9:15am AEST against Brazil. Make sure you tune in to Fox Sports to see if the Matildas can make it a clean sweep at this tournament.
Rugby union
While Australia is set to welcome back the Matildas at the end of this week following their participation in the Tournament of Nations, we also bade farewell to another one of our teams this week when the Australian Wallaroos departed for Ireland ahead of the Women’s Rugby World Cup later this month.
While plenty of Australians have been used to Australian rugby teams heading into world tournaments as favourites in the past, there’s no doubt that Wallaroos head into this tournament as underdogs.
It’s unsurprising considering the little media attention women’s XV rugby has had compared to other forms of the game in the past couple of years. Up until last year I didn’t even know the Wallaroos existed.
Credit where credit is due, though. The Wallaroos head into this World Cup better prepared than they have ever been, with the team travelling to New Zealand earlier this year to compete in the Tri Nations Tournament and also having camp late last month ahead of their World Cup campaign.
The Wallaroos squad comprises 28 women, but only three of them are paid professional athletes as part of the Women’s Sevens program. The other 25 women have had to take time away from work, study and family to represent their country. The ARU does pay for the cost of the entire tour, but the athletes will not be paid match fees.
The mind boggles.
Consistent with the experience of most female athletes, though, these women are not doing it for money – they do it because they love their sport. While this is commendable and will go a long way to supporting the next generation of Wallaroos, if Australia wants to compete internationally against some of the other rugby powerhouses, pay needs to be considered, as do competitions to give women the opportunity to play the XV format of the game.
I would also like to mention one other woman who may not be part of the playing group but who is certainly considered to be part of the Wallaroos family: Josephine Sukkar, who has been a longtime advocate of women and in particular women in rugby.
Josephine and her company Buildcorp will also give each of the Wallaroos $1000 to help with some of the costs associated with the tour. This is in addition to the $200,000 donated by Josephine to the ARU from the Australian Rugby Foundation to help boost the women’s game.
The first Wallaroos game will be against Ireland on Tuesday. This is a team that really needs support, so I encourage all of you to follow the team’s progress during the World Cup.
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
Great to see you passionate about women's football enough to be writing your own articles!
Kangajets
Guest
It's great Mary that u are finally recognising football as an elite women's sport rather then just promoting rugby league or afl .
Simoc
Guest
It's a great result but in the past this team has been hot and cold on the world stage. So given this was supposedly like friendlies it will be great to see them play as well when they're under the microscope. The womens soccer is good viewing and certainly our women are competitive with the A grade best, where as our men are more like C grade if that. Even worse at the local A league level. The guys here are so slow but act like prima donnas.
Ruudolfson
Guest
Not just her, a shout out to De Vanna, Katrina Gorry, Kellend Knight, Foord, Van Egmond and young Carpenter, the Matildas has many very good players. But yes Sam Kerr is the shining light of this team, shes the x-factor out of all the players.
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
Busted, guilty as charged. The people are much friendlier here!!
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
Also, have you been sprung reading a competitor's website. :P
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
Jason - you absolute legend! Thank you so much for sharing that wonderful card with me. It would have been blasphemy to write the article and not include that card. It is my favourite one of all. :)
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
Mary K - I'm horrified! The Mark Ross Scanlens was provided in good faith, to see it appear on a competitors website blew me away!!!! Seriously, congrats on the gig with those guys, I enjoyed the read. Cheers Jason
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
They absolutely dominated - what a performance!
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
I loved this comment nemesis - maybe it's time we started watching a bit more of the US League so we can make our own judgement. :)
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
It really is! I'll see if I can't jag an interview with her next week. ;)
Betty B
Guest
Matildas have been building for this for a while now. We have several good young players, world class, some of whom weren't in California. Hopefully they'll be top five in FIFA rankings now, displacing England who just lost out in the Euros, and Japan. And maybe it will raise the profile of Women's sport in Australia and bring some money into the W League.
DaniE
Roar Guru
Sam Kerr is the name on everyone's lips at the moment, and I think rightfully could be said as best in the world right now. But the best part of the tournament has been seeing the balance of the team - so effective in all the parts, tight when they need to be, dynamic when required and always keeping their focus and cool. Speaking of the Wallaroos, remuneration is in an interesting state of play in women's sport at the moment. Contrast the positive outcome for the women's cricketers yesterday to the end of contract announcement for the English women's rugby team (done, ironically, hours after the English women won the Cricket World Cup). The axing of professional contracts for the women's 15, with money instead being channeled to the 7s, got a heap of people upset especially with the Women's Rugby World Cup about to start! The public outrage generated at least had an outcome of Tyrells crisps coming on board to be the major sponsor of their pro domestic tournament, but reflects I think the sad fact that if you can't rely on the governing body to assist, you have to wait for private patrons like Josephine Sukkar and Tyrells to fill the inequity somehow.
jamesb
Guest
I am so so proud of the Matildas. Not only do they play well and win, they also represent Australia in a good way on the world stage. Out of our two national teams, the Matildas are most likely to win a world cup. Lets hope that Australia hosts the tournament in 2023. If that were to happen, the Matildas would be very tough to beat. Once again, I am so proud of them. Favourite player is Caitlin Foord . She is from my neck of the woods, and I will always have a soft spot for her. Plus, she can motor along on the wing.(sorry about the bad pun)
punter
Guest
That would be special Ken.
punter
Guest
Starting to really like Sam Kerr as well Mary. This is a wonderful team.
Ken Spacey
Guest
Imagine a women's football component to C/wealth games! Aussies vs England final would be a cracker.
Sydneysider
Guest
6-1 to the Matildas now against Brazil. Hopefully a top 5 ranking for our women's team.
Nat
Roar Guru
Hi Mary, This is very exciting for this team and a great extension of what happening in womens sport in Aust at the moment. People talk about 2016 being the year of the underdog, Cronulla, W/Bulldogs, Leicester etc but for mine, 2016 was dominated by the top codes introducing and/or revitalising the female brand of the game. Netball, AFL and Cricket teams getting prime time exposure with Rugby (off the back of the Olympics Gold), Football and League making progress into professional status, something not even considered 3-4 yrs ago. These milestone wins are further adding to the cause and a little bit of showtime backflip for the highlights reel. Caught your Retro article on another forum today. Keep up the good work.
pacman
Guest
The second half v Brazil has just commenced. Very entertaining first half, dominated by the Matildas after the opening two minutes had passed by.