Future looks bright as Matildas send off most-capped player with massive win over Chinese Taipei

More than 30,000 fans have farewelled the Matildas’ most-capped and arguably its most-loved player in Queenslander Clare Polkinghorne as they crushed Chinese Taipei.

More than 30,000 Geelong football fans have farewelled the Matildas’ most-capped and arguably its most-loved player in Queenslander Clare Polkinghorne as they crushed Chinese Taipei 6-0 on Saturday night.

A new-look and fresh faced Matildas outfit bereft of its biggest names didn’t stop 30,097 local punters from rocking up for the team’s first match at Kardinia Park in seven years, with the ground’s traditional blue and white hoops replaced by a sea of green and gold, in particular across the Players and Reg Hickey stands which were close to jam-packed.

Coming up against a Chinese Taipei outfit it beat 3-1 on Wednesday night in Melbourne – which ended the national team’s 16-straight sold out matches – it was Polkinghorne’s 169th and final international match, closing the door on a near 20-year career which began as a 17-year-old in a friendly against China.

Matildas veteran Clare Polkinghorne is congratulated by teammates as she left the field in her final international.

Bettering the Matildas’ 5-1 smashing of China at Kardinia Park in November, 2017, the home team completely dominated the visitors 6-0 as they blooded two more debutants.

In a nice bit of symmetry, moments after veteran Polkinghorne came off the ground for the final time midway through the second term, 19-year-old keeper Chloe Lincoln ran on to replace Mackenzie Arnold – who had little to do – unable to contain her delight.

Laura Hughes also came on later in the game for her first appearance at the level.

Earlier, rounding out a quartet of locally-played friendlies, and their final match for 2024, the Matildas could look to ‘25 with some optimism, going up 2-0 in after dominating all 11 minutes of play.

Interim coach Tom Sermanni had promised further changes and there were four, as Bryleeh Henry and Leah Davidson made their starting debuts in the midfield while Chloe Logarzo went out with concussion from Wednesday night’s fixture.

And it didn’t take Melbourne City’s Davidson long to have an impact at Kardinia Park with her maiden Matildas goal, heading a precise Emily van Egmond cross into the left corner of the net after six minutes of play.

The Aussies enjoyed several strong looks at goal, with keeper Wang Yu-Ting doing well to block a Tameka Yallop rifle shot before Emily Gielnik failed to convert an effective Michelle Heyman ball across the goal mouth.

Prior and Freier make 5️⃣ and 6️⃣.

🎥 @10FootballAU #Matildas #AUSvTPE pic.twitter.com/2AGhNlHzXp

— CommBank Matildas (@TheMatildas) December 7, 2024

Sharn Freier of Australia celebrates scoring a goal during the International Friendly Match between the Australia Matildas and Chinese Taipei at GMHBA Stadium.

However, there was a touch of inevitability as the score increased to 2-0 after Yallop’s deft left footer found the opposite side of the net of Davidson’s inaugural goal in the green and gold.

To complete a nightmare opening half, 21-year-old Ting Chia-Ying was carted off on a stretcher in tears with an apparent knee injury as a wave started to go up, such had the fizz gone out of the game.

Gielnik would make amends for her earlier miss, using her physicality to head another sublime Yallop left footer to make it 3-0 and effectively game over.

It felt like it could have been twice that by half time, with the game predominantly played in the Matildas’ attacking half and boasting nearly 70 per cent of possession.

Gielnik and Davidson would be subbed out at the break with Remy Siemsen and Alex Chidiac coming on.

Like Davidson earlier, the former would get into the action quickly, providing a nice assist to Heyman as the scoring continued to be shared.

A Tash Prior header and a lethal left footer from Sharn Freier added more pain for the visitors, a 6-0 triumph completing back-to-back wins and a long awaited clean sheet, after dual losses to Brazil last week in the Sunshine State.

Post-match, Yallop said Polkinghorne had enjoyed a “stellar career” and it would be strange not to have her in the squad in the future.

“She’s left an amazing legacy,” Yallop said.

“I think it was fun out there today, we played some great football.

“We didn’t take a backwards step which was important.”

A WEEK TO REMEMBER FOR YOUNG MATILDA

Leah Davidson celebrates with Tameka Yallop after scoring a goal.

After making her Tillies debut just three nights’ ago in Melbourne, Leah Davidson took things to a whole new level after starting for the Matildas for the first time.

The 23-year-old with cap 232 was on the scoresheet within six minutes against Chinese Taipei with a clever header to bring nearly 30,000 fans to their feet.

The Aussies bossed the opening minutes of the match, with the ball rarely venturing into Chinese Taipei’s attacking half, generating half a dozen genuine scoring chances.

A 3-0 half time score didn’t quite feel like an accurate representation of a game largely played on the Matildas’ terms and the visitors were barely a threat up forward.

Chloe Lincoln and Laura Hughes would also make their debuts as the Matildas injected further fresh faces.

GEELONG FANS OUT IN FORCE

Seven years has seen amazing growth in the popularity of women’s elite soccer if the crowd at GMHBA Stadium is anything to go by.

Football Australia was expecting up to 27,000 for the Matildas’ final game for the year at Kardinia Park, despite a galaxy of stars either unavailable, injured or stepping away due to mental exhaustion.

And while it was far from a blockbuster clash against a team ranked 41 in the world, Saturday night’s crowd more than quadrupled the previous effort of around 6500, according to FA figures, who watched the Tillies against China back in November, 2017, with 30,057.

“It’s a wonderful atmosphere,” retired Matildas goal keeper Lydia Williams said pre-game.

Originally published as Future looks bright as Matildas send off most-capped player with massive win over Chinese Taipei