Both player of the match Caitlin Foord and captain Sam Kerr scored hat-tricks as Australia surged to the top of their Olympic qualifying group.
Fire shot into the afternoon sky. Blazing pitchside balls of heat just to welcome the warm-up. A bit of pyrotechnics in Perth on a Sunday never hurt anyone – and that was before the game began. You could call this Matildas performance electrifying.
If the first half of this crucial Olympic qualifier was not Australia’s best half of football to date then it was mighty close. And perhaps that is what should be expected of World Cup semi-finalists. Perhaps we should have known it as soon as coach Tony Gustavsson made 10 changes to the XIBut how could anyone have predicted a full-time scoreline of 8-0? There was always the risk that this match could become more complicated than it needed to be.
This starting XI as a unit are suffocating. And the more they pushed the Philippines back into their own penalty area, the more they squeezed them out of this contest, depriving them of oxygen and their Group A lead, and consigning them to their heaviest-ever defeat.Australia are now top heading into their final match against Taiwan, and in the box seat to qualify for February’s third and final phase on the path towards Paris 2024.
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Matildas turn to big guns in bid to break down PhilippinesTony Gustavsson is expected to use his World Cup stars for Australia’s next Olympic qualifier in Perth as they look to replace Sunday’s rivals at the top of the group.
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Matildas turn to big guns in bid to break down PhilippinesTony Gustavsson is expected to use his World Cup stars for Australia’s next Olympic qualifier in Perth as they look to replace Sunday’s rivals at the top of the group.
Read more »
Matildas turn to big guns in bid to break down PhilippinesTony Gustavsson is expected to use his World Cup stars for Australia’s next Olympic qualifier in Perth as they look to replace Sunday’s rivals at the top of the group.
Read more »