In this, the final part of our review of the international matches played over the past ten days or so, we turn to the Olympic Games Final Qualifiers in Asia and the latest Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying games. Impetus editor Ben Gilby reports:
Olympic Games Final Qualifiers: Asia First Leg:
Australia went a long way towards sealing their Olympic Games spot after sweeping aside Vietnam 5-0 in their first leg in front of an excellent crowd of 14,014 at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium.
Whilst the scoreline looks comprehensive at first glance, the truth was that it did not get anywhere close to emphasising the total dominance of the Matildas.
The first half saw Australia put in their best performance for some time with a slick, fast moving passing game causing their South East Asian opponents great problems. After ten minutes, the Matildas went ahead as she crept in unmarked behind the Vietnamese defence to head in Ellie Carpenter’s pin-point cross.
It was 2-0 after 27 minutes when Arsenal’s Caitlin Foord put in a cross which was nodded down by Emily van Egmond for Bristol City’s Chloe Logarzo to hit home.
Eleven minutes later, a fine piece of team play saw Chelsea’s Sam Kerr’s delightful back heel find Steph Catley to home town girl Emily van Egmond to add her recent fine run of goal scoring in international football to make it 3-0.
The second half saw Australia continue to dominate, but a combination of a clever Vietnamese offside trap (which caught their hosts out six times) and the Matildas being guilty of over-forcing matters led to the home side producing a far more disjointed showing.
It took until the 67th minute for a fourth Australian goal to come. Steph Catley and Emily van Egmond played a delightful 1-2 in for defender Clare Polkinghorne to score. With ten minutes left, it was 5-0 when the Matildas were awarded a very soft penalty as Hayley Raso went down in the box. Sam Kerr stepped up and smashed home from the spot to go into second place in the all-time Matildas scoring list – six behind Lisa de Vanna having played 67 fewer games for her country.
Second Leg:
Australia sealed their place in the Olympic Games with another dominant performance in Vietnam in a game played behind closed doors due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
The Matildas had 73% of the possession during the match and 625 passes compared to Vietnam’s 245. However, it was still a case of the side not quite hitting their peak in Cửa Ông.
Within five minutes, the Australians came close to taking the lead. Caitlin Foord drove in down the left to play in Sam Kerr, but her effort cannoned back off of the post.
Ten minutes later the Matildas were back in front. A great cross from Steph Catley on the left was met first time on the volley by Kerr. This fine strike was the Chelsea striker’s forty-second goal for her country – putting her clear in second place in Australia’s all-time top scorers’ chart.
On twenty-seven minutes it was 2-0 as Kerr found her way into the box and unselfishly squared the ball across the area for Everton’s Hayley Raso to comfortably side foot home.
Ten minutes before the break, there was yet another golden opportunity for the Matildas as Caitlin Foord was wrestled to the ground by Thị Tươi Phạm. Unusually it was Chloe Logarzo who stepped up to take the penalty. The Bristol City midfielder’s effort was excellently saved by Trần Thị Kim Thanh. It remained 2-0 at the break.
Thanh made another great save five minutes into the second half as she dived to the left to push away Allanna Kennedy’s free kick from outside of the area.
Kennedy was involved in the next significant action of the game five minutes later when her catastrophic attempt at a back pass fell nowhere near her goalkeeper Lydia Williams, allowing Huỳnh Như in to put in a beautiful long range lob over Williams. It was the first ever goal that Vietnam have scored against the Matildas in nine internationals dating back to 2008.
There was one final chance in the match, which fell to Sam Kerr with eighteen minutes late. She turned beautifully onto a ball in and hit a first time volley which was just wide.
In the end Australia were comfortable 2-1 winners in the night, and were victorious 7-1 on aggregate to progress to the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The other final qualifying tie between South Korea and China has been moved to April due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Euro 2021 Qualifiers
In Group A, Russia moved into second place on 6th March with a comfortable 5-0 win over Kosovo in a match played in Wiesbaden, Germany.
An own goal in the opening minute from Fjolla Shala putting the Russians ahead set the tone for the match. Further strikes from Nelli Korovkina, Nadezhda Smirnova and Marina Fedorovna saw Russia give their qualifying hopes a major boost with a run of favourable fixtures ahead.
On 10th March, Slovenia remained in third, but closed in on Russia – behind them on just goal difference after a 3-0 success in Kosovo. Goals from Pamela Begic, Nina Pradenic and Ana Milovic renewed their qualification hopes.
Group B saw Bosnia Herzegovina rekindle their slim play-off hopes with a vital 1-0 win over winless Israel thanks to Milena Nikovic’s 64th minute strike on 5th March.
On the same day, Malta earned their first win of the qualifying campaign courtesy of a 2-1 success over winless Georgia. The islanders took the lead thanks to Rachel Cushieri on 17 minutes. Hayley Bugeja doubled the advantage early in the second half. Georgian hopes were raised when Khatia Tchkonia got a goal back with fourteen minutes left, but it was too little too late.
Bosnia Herzegovina earned another victory on 10th March – but it was far closer than they would have expected in Malta. Sofija Krajsumovic grabbed a hat-trick to put victory in sight, but two late Maltese goals from Emma Xuereb and Brenda Borg gave the Bosnians some worrying moments in the closing stages.
With no action in Group C over the past ten days, it is on to Group D where Poland comfortably dispatched Moldova 5-0 in front of 7,528 in Lubin. An Ewa Pajor hat-trick, plus goals from Aleksandra Sikora and Katarzyna Daleszcyzk set the Poles up for their trip to Azerbaijan four days later.
The outcome of that clash in Baku was another 5-0 success for the Poles which sent them to the top of the qualifying group on goal difference from Spain. Ewa Pajor grabbed another two goals as did Aleksandra Sikora. Agata Tarczynska completed the rout on the ninetieth minute mark.
Group E saw the two winless nations, Cyprus and Albania meet head-on in Larnaca. It was the Albanians who would be celebrating their maiden victory in the campaign, thanks to a 2-0 success. Megi Doci and Zelfie Bajramaj were on target.
There have been no games in Group F in this international window, but Serbia are back in second spot in Group G following a comprehensive 8-1 win over North Macedonia, albeit having played three games more than France who drop to third.
Allegra Poljak scored two goals in the opening eight minutes but to the Macedonian’s credit, Gentjana Rochi got one back on fourteen minutes. It remained 2-1 until the brink of half time when Tijana Filipovic struck the all-important third for the Serbs.
A spell of three goals in four minutes (Nevena Damjanovic, Filipovic adding her second, and one from Jelena Cankovic) saw Serbia surge to a 6-1 lead. Marija Radojicic and a second from Cankovic completed the rout.
Group H has not seen a ball kicked this time round, but in Group I, Republic of Ireland moved top of the group by a point from Germany, having played a game more following two wins in six days. Firstly, they recorded a 1-0 win over Greece at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Diane Caldwell’s goal just before half-time was enough. On the 11th March, they returned from Macedonia with a comfortable 3-0 win. Diane Caldwell, Katie McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan were on target.
impetusfootball.org 