Caitlin Foord has scored a cracking goal and assisted another to steer the Matildas to a hard-fought 2-0 win over hard-pressing Mexico in an entertaining friendly ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Foord teed up Hayley Raso to open the scoring in the ninth minute then scored a wonderful curling effort herself in the 52nd at Toyota Field in San Antonio, Texas.
Australia actively played out from the back against the world No.31, dealing with a relentless press, with hard-running defender Ellie Carpenter working tirelessly to create opportunities.
The Matildas also learned on Wednesday AEST that Zambia will join the US and Germany in their group at the Paris Olympics, after beating Morocco 3-2 on aggregate in their qualifier.
With Clare Hunt (foot) injured, Steph Catley moved centrally and the impressive Kaitlyn Torpey started at left-back.
Emily van Egmond played in midfield alongside Kyra Cooney-Cross amid Katrina Gorry’s absence through ankle surgery.
Australia dominated possession in the opening half but had just two registered shots to Mexico’s five, with goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold kept busy.
But Australia took the lead when Foord beat her defender and squared the ball to the top of the box.
Raso turned her defender inside out and beat Mexico goalkeeper Esthefanny Barreras with a shot into the bottom corner.
Mexico, who beat the US in February, fired some warning shots while Foord dragged a rare Australian first-half attempt over the bar in the 42nd minute.
Australia burst out of the blocks in the second half and Mary Fowler forced Barreras into a diving save in the 48th minute.
Van Egmond skimmed another effort over the crossbar a minute later.
Then, some magic from Foord gave the Matildas some breathing room.
Foord received the ball out on the left and, guarded by Araceli Torres, shifted her weight onto her right and shuffled towards the edge of the 18-yard box.
She then stopped and propped, shimmied then wrapped her right boot around the ball to score.
Mexico’s Jasmine Casarez burst forward in the 57th minute but under pressure from Torpey, blasted wide.
Just after the hour mark, coach Tony Gustavsson turned to Cortnee Vine, Clare Wheeler and Clare Polkinghorne.
Vine almost immediately forced a save while Wheeler and Fowler headed over the bar in the 72nd and 78th minutes.
Mexico should have dragged a goal back late after a Cooney-Cross turnover but Casarez fired straight at Arnold.
Brisbane Roar youngster Sharn Freier debuted in the closing minutes.
Australia next play China in Adelaide on May 31, then Sydney on June 2.S
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The first half the Matildas struggled against a physical Mexican outfit who were tightly marking them. The possesion they had a lot was held by the center backs who were allowed to keep the ball at times while everyone else was tightly marked. The Mexicans worked hard on making sure the wide players were tightly marked. Caitlin Foord managed to score and help set up a goal from only a handful of times she got the better of the defence, the rest of the time the MExicans got the ball off her. Raso and Fowler managed even less, but Raso did score the goal. Heyman held the ball up well but never got the ball facing goal. Torpey did well playing out of position at right back. The second half the Mexicans did get tired and it opened up, I would have preferred to see Heyman stay on. Catley at center back did well, Polkinghorne looked slow when she came on. The thing that worried me is playing out from the back . They really are setting up for failure if the tactic is you give Cooney Cross the ball in the area and have her try to dribble past the defence.
Cinderella's Big Score
Roar Rookie
yay