Having pumped water up against the Chilean dam last week, and found it equal to the pressure, Australia entered this match not knowing exactly how much their opponents could resist.
Would this be another vain effort, chance after chance missed or denied, ending in frustration?
A 17-minute stretch in the second half showed that the Chilean resistance had a spectacular breaking point that Australia were easily able to reach. 5-0 it ended, in front of a packed Newcastle crowd, and the Matildas’ confidence in their ability to break down a stolid opponent will be restored.
Laura Alleway, whose errant backpass allowed the visitors to equalise in Penrith, was dropped to the bench with Alanna Kennedy coming in at centre back. Lisa de Vanna was also rotated to the bench, and Mackenzie Arnold replaced Lydia Williams in goal. Gema Simon was started at left back, with Elise Kellond-Knight shifted in the midfield, versatile player that she is.
While Alen Stajic was clearly turning his squad with these changes like a gardener would a loamy patch with a hoe, this was no breezy friendly, not after the defeat last week.
Obviously, Sam Kerr started; her wayward finishing in the first match will have irritated her, a player for whom goals are scored with as much professional satisfaction as a butcher takes in cleaving through a bit of fresh carcass.
Sam Kerr of the Matildas. (Photo by Zak Kaczmarek/Getty Images)
Chile were spirited, and were able to hold the ball in the early stanzas, winning a number of fouls. As Australia eventually assumed the attacking impetus, the South Americans settled back into a compact, narrow block, sitting very deep and looking to break at speed. This was the anticipated system.
After 20 minutes, Carpenter burned her defender, raced toward the byline, and sent an ideal cross in toward the far post, but Chloe Logarzo headed over unmarked. Chile put together a string of corners, good pressure applied on their hosts.
Daniela Zamora forced a sharp save from Arnold at her near post after scorching past Polinghorne, cutting inside and snapping a shot off. The chance came from a straight line drive, a vertical pass puncturing through the Matildas defence; possession wasn’t particularly unevenly split in the first half, but Chile had hit nearly three times as many long passes as the Matildas. They were right to, as it was during these direct raids that the Australian defence looked most shaky.
Kennedy, towering over every Chilean outfielder, nodded a header onto the base of Christiane Elder’s post. The Matildas were getting frustrated as the first half ended; gameswomanship, time-wasting, a particularly hard foul on Kerr, it was all niggling visibly at the green and gold patience.
Their frustration was grossly manifested in Caitlin Foord’s flashing elbow, flicked into the chin of a marker at a corner. It was not a nice moment, and she was fortunate the VAR was not in place because she would have been sent off.
Caitlin Foord (Photo by Steve Christo/Corbis via Getty Images)
As the halftime whistle sounded, it was 0-0.
Kerr was being marked tightly, with a dedicated shadow tagging her at all times. Her ability to contribute in spite of this tremendous pressure is excellent; dashing into space between the midfield and the attack, her velvet touch kills even the most stoutly-hit pass, and her ability to lay off to runners is as impressive. Still, it meant she was often behind the play for which she had acted as the original catalyst. Ideally, Kerr is to be the finisher, not the progenitor.
As soon as Kerr got an opportunity to run ahead of the play, she put Australia in front. A counter-counter, so to speak, was the method.
Chile sent players forward with the sniff of a counter-attack in the air, and when it broke down, Foord was steaming at a trio of terrified Chilean defenders. She laid on a perfect pass for the streaking Kerr, who finished through Elder.
And then, two minutes later, Foord scored Australia’s second. Like a shark with blood in the water, the Matildas were powering forward, desperate to take another bite.
Worked neatly around on the left by Emily van Egmond and Logarzo, the latter crossed. Kerr’s backheeled flick attempt didn’t stick, but the ball ran all the way through to Foord at the far post, who had a postage stamp-sized spot through which to place her shot. She so placed it, a two-minute double-salvo, and the home side had the teeth sunk in, with their opponents lifeless and dangling.
A flurry of opportunities with Kerr at the heart of all of them came, one after another, as Australia revelled in the open floodgates; finally, the pressure had told, and the chances were tumbling out of the game now, with half an hour remaining.
The Aussies’ superior conditioning was showing through, as the mental toll of conceding intensified the sear of lactic acid in the Chilean leg and prod of the icy dagger in the Chilean lung.
Foord plundered another. Christiane Endler, so accomplished and composed, had a heavy touch jar off her boot, and Foord was onto it in a flash. Bouncing a Chilean defender off her hip, Foord assumed control, and lifted the ball over Endler on the edge of the box. 3-0.
Emily Gielnik, a substitute, smashed in a fourth, a left-footed shot from the left-hand side of the box that speared past Endler, and nestled in the bottom corner. Logarzo had sent Gielnik clean through with a neat outside-of-the-boot pass, and Gielnik was unerring in her finish, a beauty. 4-0 now, and Australia were savaging an opponent who, perhaps, had thought they had had their number.
Foord gobbled up her hat-trick goal, tapping in her country’s fifth from close range after Carpenter’s super run and cross. Foord had been unplayable in the second half.
This was, in truth, a scoreline more representative of the gap between these teams, both in the FIFA rankings and on the park. The loss last week was a costly aberration, and although the effect it may have on the World Cup draw cannot now be rectified, this trouncing win was the ideal way for Australia to reassert their supremacy.
Post_hoc
Roar Rookie
I'm a big fan of Ellie, having her on the right also allows Kerr to play a little closer infield, as Ellie has great attacking instincts, a good motor which allows her to get up and around the outside of Kerr
Post_hoc
Roar Rookie
Mr AFL Short memory, the Matilda's beat Brazil 6-1 in the tournament of nations in 2017, at the time Australia was 7 and Brazil 8. So I think you are being hard on Chile there. Kanga I thought summarised it well, they just played out of there skins for 135 minutes,
Post_hoc
Roar Rookie
So who do you lace your boots up for? Let us know we can arrange someone to come down and watch you, we'll make sure to post some constructive criticisms.
Post_hoc
Roar Rookie
Are you a rookie? This is Australian Football, we never get good world cup draws. LOL
Brainstrust
Guest
Chile went to press hard in the first half, and then tracked back in numbers. This effort tired them out and then they got done over in the second. There are a lot of things to be concerned , against a parked bus they are trying to play through it, not only are they not getting though, they are just keeping the ball till they gift the opposition a counter attack. When they were pressed they tried to play it through the side of the field they were being pressed in, again another very dangerous tactic. There has to be a lot of concern over the midfield, Van Egmond in particular, she is slow, if the game is going at a fast pace she hasn't got the fitness to keep up, and then her marking is non existent. I see little chance of winning the world cup with this midfield. More likely they will be upset by lesser teams on the counterattack.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Exactly the same as you. Even if I hated one of the codes I wouldn't start posting hate comments on it, I just wouldn't go to the page.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
That’s a tough opinion to defend. Taken to its logical conclusion, if people only wanted to watch the best then people would only watch a game between, say, Barcelona and Man City, when each team had a full squad available, and only after someone they all trusted watched the game first and validated the quality. Your blunt asessment can’t be right because millions of people around the world turn up or tune in to less than the best every week. 15,000 turned up to watch the Matildas on the weekend, then 12,000 last night - how do you explain that?
Redondo
Roar Rookie
IAP, courtesy of some clumsy censorship, it seems you are now the one who brought up AFL.
chris
Guest
I doubt it. But its nice to have dreams
Punter
Roar Rookie
Yes I agree about France, while a lot of hype about the Matildas & rightly so, we are also relying a lot on athleticism, while France have this plus football smarts & skills. They were 2 levels above us when we played them. England too were very good.
IAP
Guest
Nope, you didn't say that. I agree with both of your statements, but they're two different statements.
IAP
Guest
I would have stopped that. Her reaction time just wasn't good enough.
reuster75
Roar Rookie
Agreed about Foord and credit to Ante Juric at Sydney FC who has committed to playing her as a number 9 this season which will be of immense benefit to the national team. I would like to see a front three of Gielnik, Foord and Kerr as Gielnik is very good at delivering the ball from out wide which allows Kerr and Foord to remain more central and not having to always go looking for the ball. Moving forward stop experimenting with players out of position, let them try and consolidate one set position and focus on developing multiple options for the one position with players who are naturally suited to that position. Gemma Simon was a case in point last night, a natural LB who provides a good alternative to Catley. Ellie Carpenter has done enough to own the RB spot and Crummer can be the alternative. Versatility is fine in theory but unless they're exceptional players like Kelliond-Knight or Van Egmond it ends up hurting the team more than it helps.
IAP
Guest
The short answer to that question is no. Women's soccer is ok to watch when there's nothing else on, but it's a poor cousin to the real stuff. Women's sports will always take a back seat because women will never be able to play at the same standard as men, and people want to watch the best; they want to watch people doing things they can't.
IAP
Guest
AFL was brought up by a soccer fan. I, like Mr Football, am a fan of both codes, and I have no desire to talk footy on the soccer pages.
reuster75
Roar Rookie
France looked very scary when we played them last month. They were very good 4 years ago and have really invested in women's football since and it shows. Holland are rapidly improving as well - in the last 4 years they have qualified for their first ever world cup, won the European championships and just qualified again for the world cup. Spain are also improving at a rapid rate, Chile looked very dangerous at times over the last few matches and the more they play top sides the better they'll get. The key theme amongst all these teams is the massive increase in investment by the respective national federations which is great to see.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
To re-phrase a classic line from Lord of the Rings: The Age of Men is over, this is now the Age of Women. The sleeping giant may have awoken, yet again, but the ogress has jumped out of bed with bells on, ready to tackle the new epoch.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
JK I'm with you, I see myself more as a lover rather than a hater. On a site which covers all sport, I'm constantly surprised that the majority of soccer fans look for a strict demarcation on this site. If they just want to discuss soccer, they can always start their own specific soccer site, or join the dozen or so people discussing soccer on 442. There's always #sokkahtwitter as well.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Chile were putting on immense pressure in the midfield and pressing, which didn't help some of our loose passing. Kennedy is much better in defence but was a little guilty of this in the first half. Certainly there is more confidence with Kennedy than Alleway. Conditioning helped but those first two goals in quick succession deflated Chile's confidence. And as Chile push up more and turned over in midfield, we broke quickly. Can't be understated just how well Foord played last night: tight control, directly attacking her defenders and beating them, good vision and some key layoffs under pressure. A confidence boost after coming back from a serious injury. Foord also plays better in behind the front line, but her versatility can see her in defensive positions but attack is were she is most effective. Carpenter also, more defensive but has a great attacking instinct. Gielnik also was impressive off the bench in both games with her willingness to take on players at speed. Butt was also good. Plenty of fringe players can slot in, which is what Staj has been building for since the last World Cup. More games in Newy please.
chris
Guest
IAP I disagree that she "should have stopped that". Instincts would have told the keeper that Foord would cut the ball back to a team mate so the last thing she was expecting was a shot (well hit at that) from that tight angle. I've seen top class players in the mens game finish like that and no one blamed the keeper.