Caitlin Foord scores a hat-trick as the Matildas hand Chile a 5-0 thrashing in Newcastle
Despite having turned a first half of frustration against Chile into a second period of total elation, Matildas coach Alen Stajcic wants precision from his team as the 2019 World Cup looms large.
It was an emphatic 5-0 win for the Matildas over Chile, hammered home by a hat-trick of goals to Caitlin Foord, the first of her career, but coach Alen Stajcic wants more.
Despite having turned a first half of frustration into a second of elation, Stajcic wants precision from his team after a couple of other chances went begging late in the game.
Foord led the charge for the Matildas and was involved in the first three goals before she iced the game with her third and the team’s fifth with two minutes left in the match.
It sent the 12,649 Newcastle fans into raptures as they made their final international of 2018 and exhilarating goal-fest.
But with the most important tournament just seven months away, coach Stajcic is after the absolute best from his team, even with a five-goal second half.
“I still thought even possibly in the last 20 minutes we still didn’t capitalise as much as we should have,” he said.
“We still had lots of crosses that could have been put into better areas and better movement in the box.
“There was that 20-minute period where we scored all four and then we really had our foot on their throat and we just, I’m a bit greedy, but we should have just done better in those moments.
“When you’re crossing the ball under no pressure it just needs to be good quality.”
The first of those four goals came in the board 52nd minute when Sam Kerr took a pass off Foord in the box and put it in the back of the net.
The Matildas star striker had received little ball during the first half but had much more success when she switched out wide with Foord.
Foord then picked up a pass from Chloe Logarzo two minutes later, which had bypassed Kerr and Tameka Butt in the goal area, and sent it back over the head of towering Chile keeper Christiane Endler into the top corner.
It was the boost the Matildas needed and any frustration that had held them back during the opening period was shaken off and they were on the attack.
She extended Australia’s lead in the 67th minute when she was on the spot to capitalise on a mistimed kick from Endler as she went to clear the ball and turned to fire it into the back of the net from outside the box. Emily Gielnik doing much the same two minutes later.
Foord has been in impressive since returning to Australia from the US season, scoring a brace in Sydney FC’s opening W-League match and adding the hat-trick with the Matildas.
Again, Stajcic believes we can see more.
“For me, she could be one of the best players in the world and I think she showed glimpses of that today,” he said.
“She’s still got so much more in her. She’s such a fantastic mover with the ball. Her one v one dribbling skills are amazing … Today was just glimpses of the Caitlin Foord we can see and she’s got another six to seven months to really get fit and really find her balance and movement again.”
Stajcic will bring the Matildas together for camps during FIFA windows next year and hopes for another home series before the World Cup in France in June.
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Originally published as Caitlin Foord scores a hat-trick as the Matildas hand Chile a 5-0 thrashing in Newcastle