There’s plenty on the line for the Matildas at this year’s Asian Cup, which started on April 2 and will conclude on April 22.
Eight nations are competing – Jordan, Japan, Australia, China, Korea Republic, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines – with the top five earning automatic entry into the 2019 FIFA World Cup in France.
Heading into this tournament, there was plenty of expectation surrounding the Matildas, and rightly so. 2017 was a breakout year for this team, not just on the field, but also with the Australian public.
In 2017, they won the Tournament of Nations, beating the USA for the first time ever in the process. Sam Kerr was the football player everyone recognised. She was named Young Australian of the Year and her trademark backflips graced the front covers of newspapers across the country.
Photo by Zak Kaczmarek/Getty Images
They also played in Australia throughout November in front of soldout crowds, with home attendance records being broken over and over – first in Penrith, with 15,089 people in attendance, and then 16,829 watched a victory over Brazil in Newcastle just days later.
The year ended with the Australia reaching fourth on the FIFA World Rankings – their highest position ever – trailing just behind the USA, Germany and England.
In a year where football in Australia needed a beacon of light, the Matildas came and lit up the country.
Going into the Asian Cup ranked sixth in the world, they were favourites to emerge as champions. However, their campaign started frustratingly, with a 0-0 draw against the Korea Republic – the thrid time the two nations have played out such a scoreline.
The had plenty of attacking opportunities – Kerr had four shots and also created two goal-scoring opportunities for her teammates, while Kyah took a late shot at goal – but failed to convert any.
During the mtach, Korea looked content with a draw, with their sole shot at goal occurring in the 93rd minute, courtesy of Lee Young-Ju (Korea Republic took a similar approach against Japan, which also ended in a 0-0 draw).
Any concerns following that result were dispensed with, following an 8-0 demolition of Vietnam earlier this week, as seven changes to the team made an emphatic difference. It was great to see Ellie Carpenter and Alex Chidiac start – they are two of my favourite Australian players and with Carpenter being 19 and Chidiac just 17, we should be watching them in green and gold for years to come.
There were a couple of standout moments in this game. Chloe Logarzo scored her fourth goal for the year and now sits equal with Kerr for the most goals this season. Speaking of Kerr, she also scored two goals, which means that she has found the back of the net 15 times in her last 13 internationals – managing at least two goals in five of those games.
This was the team’s biggest win since they beat Vietnam 9-0 in March 2018. As an aside, this fixture saw them score more goals than in their last five internationals combined!
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
As a result, Australia is now ahead of Japan on goal difference, setting up a key clash between the two teams tonight, at 11.45pm (AEST).
Getting one point out of this game ensures Australia has a spot in the knockout stages, confirming them qualification for next year’s Wold Cup.
Quite the rivalry is developing between these two teams. While the Matildas beat Japan at the Tournament of Nations and in Japan for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games qualifiers, in the five years prior to that, Japan were dominant.
I’ll definitely be staying up to watch this one.
Commonwealth Games round up
Some of my favourites performances at the Commonwealth Games this week include Kathryn Mitchell winning gold in the javelin, after waiting over a decade to a win a major senior international medal, Bronte Campbell beating sister Cate in the women’s 100-metre freestyle to take home the gold medal, and Isis Hold winning the women’s T35 100-metre sprint in a time of 13.58. Holt adds this gold to her four world titles, two Paralympic silver medals, and one bronze – all at age 16.
But my highlight was Claire Tallent demonstrating extraordinary sportsmanship following her disqualification in the 20-kilometre race walk.
In a flashback to Jane Saville at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, with just two kilometres left in the race, Tallent was disqualified, receiving her third and final red card from the judges for lifting both feet off the ground.
Visibly distressed, Tallent collapsed to the ground.
Despite her disappointment though, Tallent was still waiting at the finish line to congratulate friend and teammate Jemima Montag as she crossed the line to win gold.
These are exactly the sorts of stories of Australian sportsmanship that I want to read about.
Pauly
Guest
Really dominated large swathes of the game. Privately, Stajcic and the team would be disappointed they couldn't pull off the win. Will see how they go if they make the final and face Japan again.
chris
Guest
The past few performances have been disappointing I agree. They are nothing like the crisp incisive play they showed when they went on that amazing run of undefeated games. Maybe a little tiredness has dulled that edge. Still getting the results so....
Nemesis
Guest
Great result for the AUS Women's National Team this morning. Terrible performance, albeit against a quality opponent. I'm not sure what's going on, but the team is showing none of the terrific interplay that I saw in the past 12 months. No doubting they work incredibly hard - like all Aussie national football teams, but they're now incredibly sloppy, which is something I expect from our men's team, but it was missing from the women's game. Anyway, it's a tournament & they finished on top of a tough group. Those last few minutes after AUS equalised was surreal.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
It is a strange debate you are engaging in, Casper. Are you saying that women's sport isn't worth watching or getting excited about? That is a debate that was raging back in the late 80's and even by the 90's had lost momentum. Or are you implying that South Korea and Japan are not strong footballing nations? Vietnam's women's football has a long way to go to catch up, granted, but so does the men's team. The Japanese however have won the World Cup and were runner's-up the following tournament, more than we've ever achieved.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Another good result from the Matildas with a 1-1 draw against Japan which puts us into the semi against Thailand and into the World Cup. Whilst the tournament pools are very uneven, I am glad we've been in the tougher side of the draw as it is provided some hard fought, entertaining games that will strengthen the side. Japan go through with us on goals scored (points & GD being the same as South Korea) whilst the Koreans will play-off with the Philippines for the final World Cup spot; a game they should breeze through. China v Japan in the 1st semi - no love lost there!
BrainsTrust
Guest
Examples of what? The Matildas actually do play against full age men regularly as they sneak them in womens qualifying but they are not high standard and they thrash them. Same as the junior male teams you have cases where 24 year olds are playing in u16's qualifying in Asia with moustaches, and in the u17 world cup the Nigerians are suspected to have fielded many.
Casper
Guest
Give me some examples. 7-0 is not just being beat, it's an absolute thrashing. Plus it's not the Australian u15 team, it's just some team from Newcastle.
chris
Guest
How would you know? You don't follow football and to compare a boys u15 team beating what was an Australian team that had many players not far off in age than the boys, shows your ignorance.
chris
Guest
Mike he's never watched a game in his life so I think his opinion is about as valid as my opinion on Essenden being this years favourites in the AFL.
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
We are totally on the same page, onside! Glad I got to do some football content for you this week. There is so much great stuff happening in women's sport I struggle to keep up sometimes!
BrainsTrust
Guest
The the male 15's would beat a seniors women team in nearly everything. do you know even the slightest thing about sport.
BrainsTrust
Guest
If you had a brain since I placed Asia second to Europe then you could safely assume Europe has at least minimum 5 top teams. Out of about the top 20 I would say and North Korea banned are about the same as CHina. North America has only two and South America one,
Casper
Guest
Nemesis- I agree with that. Nothing wrong with it either. I'm not pumping AFLW up to be anything it's not. I just don't want people to pump up international women's soccer to be something it's not.
Casper
Guest
Mid - I'm not inferring that Vietnam are weak, I'm telling you straight up that they are. To lose consecutive matches 9 nil and 8 nil to Australia proves that.
Nemesis
Guest
@Casper Some of the AFL players might be really talented. That’s not really the point though. The point is that their opponents aren’t. Some of the AFLW players might be really talented. That’s not really the point though. The point is that their opponents aren’t.
Midfielder
Guest
Cas You are being un-Australian you are letting your sporting code preference appreciate what an unbelievably ... your bias even attacks other sides for being weak... What 50 + white male is my guess. I truly hope one day you can free your mind of bias and fear and enjoy your game without feeling the need to attack other codes and other nations. You in a way inferred Vietnam is weak... just sharing a couple of vids from this year from Vietnam... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv4oez9a9Xw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ZeAgJyxiQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMUDSAfN_Dg
punter
Guest
Hey casper when was the last time Essendon won the Asian cup, maybe only under that Hird bloke.
Casper
Guest
Don't remember ever gushing about the AFLW but then again, being truthful is not your strong suit. There are 240 women on AFLW lists. Sure some of them are going to be fairly average. Maybe all the Matilda's are really talented. That's not really the point though. The point is that their opponents aren't.
Nemesis
Guest
Australia can't find women who play Aussie Rules to any level of competence so they go looking for javelin throwers & basketball players. So amusing to see the same people who gush about the quality of suburban class AFLW are trying to diminish women who represent their nation in sport.
Casper
Guest
Well Mike, if Vietnam can find 11 women that can't player soccer, I'm sure they can find 16 women who can't play footy.