By Emma Burke 7/11/2023
Above: Mary Fowler was dominant and influential across all three games. Photo: Kris Goman for Impetus
So, the Matildas have successfully made their way through the second stage of Olympic Qualifiers, defeating Iran 2-0, Philippines 8-0, and Chinese Taipei 3-0 in a series of games played in Perth.
This means they will now head on to the final stage to play Uzbekistan over two legs early next year, with the winner of those two games securing a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Each of the three games offered something different to both the Matildas and the viewers alike.
The opener, against Iran, saw a very different starting eleven take the pitch to what new fans from the Women’s World Cup would have been used to, including a start in goal for Tegan Micah, making her return to the national stage after a long recovery from a concussion.
As Iran set themselves in a low defensive block and had no qualms with stopping play for any altercation that could even potentially be a possible injury, Australia found themselves faced with the challenge of remaining focused, patient, and calm for the 90 minutes (and the 11 minutes of extra time).
Now that we’re outside of the World Cup, games are no longer really do-or-die. Lower ranked and under-funded teams tend to focus on minimising damage and will often do whatever they need to make that happen. It’s understandable, even if it makes the games a harder watch for fans.
The breakthrough goal came as Ellie Carpenter’s fourth international goal, and the deal was sealed late in the second half through Sam Kerr on her homecoming trip to Perth.
Much of the excitement was driven by Caitlin Foord and many bright sparks were shown by Amy Sayer, who seems to be well on track to start making a name for herself within the national team.
Almost 60 thousand people made their way to Optus Stadium for the second game of the qualifiers, a match against the Philippines, one that was touted to be the more dangerous of the three opponents.
The Philippines had come in off the back of their debut appearance at a World Cup, Women’s or Men’s and collected their first win against Co-Hosts New Zealand.
Even though the Philippines were playing under a new head coach in Mark Torcaso after Alen Stajcic departed following their World Cup campaign, Tony Gustavsson was taking no chances.
Gustavsson made eight changes to the starting eleven, sending out what was our full powered World Cup line up.
It felt almost like overkill after the first half as the Matildas went up 5-0, with the opener scored by Mary Fowler, and braces collected by Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord. By the end of it, Kerr had scored a hattrick (as well as the Matildas 900thgoal in all competitions), Foord had scored a hattrick (her first ever international one), and Clare Wheeler had opened her scoring account with the Matildas, scoring the last of the eight goals, a beautiful long ranged effort that curled into the back of the net.
The final game took the Matildas back to HBF Park, where they faced Chinese Taipei. Again, despite maintaining majority of the possession of the ball, the Matildas had to take their time in breaking down and open their opponents. This breaking down was not helped by the incredible performance put on by Chinese Taipei’s goalkeeper Cheng Ssu-yu, who made multiple incredible saves to keep them in the game.
Chinese Taipei kept Australia scoreless in the opening 45 minutes, something neither team before them had managed, but eventually, spending so much mental energy on constant defending wore them down, and a moment of brilliance from Mary Fowler opened the scoring. Another two goals were to follow, from Kerr and Tameka Yallop, leaving Chinese Taipei defeated 3-0, despite having put on quite a performance.
The Matildas now look to next year when they take part in the third and final stage of the Olympic Qualifying process.
A two-leg series approaches against Uzbekistan, which will be played on the 24th and 28th of February, one game in Tashkent and the other here (if they can find somewhere to play it between Taylor Swift and P!nk concert dates).
The last and only other time the Matildas have face Uzbekistan was in 2007, as part of the qualifying process for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. While the 2007 Tillies won that game 10-0, they failed to qualify due to a defeat at the hands of DPR Korea.
Luckily, this time around, DPR Korea is Japan’s problem to deal with as those two countries will face off to determine the other place in the Olympic tournament for the Asian Football Confederation.
The Matildas toured Perth with the intent of moving ahead in the qualifying process and along the way they managed a decent amount of squad rotation as well as three clean sheets all in front of massive crowds.
For now though, they can mostly take a break from international flights and focus on their club football, wherever across the globe that may be.
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