Women's Football World Cup 2019: Matildas crash out on penalties

After being shown a straight red card, Australia's Alanna Kennedy has slammed World Cup referees as the Matildas campaign came to a farcical and brutal end.  

sam Kerr has had some good early chances

A penalty shootout horror show has ended the Matildas’ World Cup campaign at the round of 16 in a heart-wrenching loss to Norway.

With the scores locked at 1-1 after extra-time, Sam Kerr skied Australia’s first penalty and Emily Gielnik missed the second in a 4-1 shootout loss to send Ante Milicic’s side packing and start what is sure to be a thorough inquest into the performance of a team tipped to be a decent shot at winning the trophy.

The nightmare in Nice marks the Matildas' worst World Cup result since 2003, having reached the quarter-finals in the last three tournaments.

Australia were on the brink of exit several times on an extraordinary night of drama underlined by a controversial penalty decision and red card.

Isabell Herlovsen scored Norway’s opener in the 31st minute, before the video assistant referee robbed Australia of an equaliser when Maria Thorisdottir handballed but the referee overturned her decision to award a penalty just before halftime.

Hard to take: The Matildas after their campaign ended

But Elise Kellond-Knight stepped up to curl a corner straight through everyone’s legs in the 83rd to force the end-to-end contest to 120 minutes.

In extra-time, Vilde Boa Risa hit the crossbar and goalkeeper Lydia Williams was forced into some stunning saves, before Alanna Kennedy was dismissed for tugging the shirt of Lisa-Marie Utland as the last defender.

"Obviously I'm really disappointed," Kennedy said afterwards. "I don't know what to say, we had so much more to give so to be out so early with such a good team, we're all just upset and heartbroken.

"I'm not surprised (by the red card) the refereeing has been questionable the whole tournament, in terms of the rules and decisions there needs to be more clarity for everyone. It's the way it goes, you have to play the whistle. But we definitely need more clarity about certain things.

"I imagine the card had an impact, I didn't see a lot of the game after that -  I couldn't get it up on TV. For the girls to get to penalties, that shows the character within our team. We fought til the end, it wasn't our day."

With 10 players on the park and their backs against the wall, the Matildas avoided the killer blow time and again as Norway peppered their goal but couldn’t get their eye in.

In the end it was a futile exercise.

COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE

Norway coach Martin Sjögren foreshadowed they’d sit back and play on the counter against better opponents back before his side’s group match against France. He hinted the same thing before this game, and even called Australia’s defence “leaky”. It was mission accomplished in the 31st minute when Karina Saevik found Herlovsen and the striker cut past a too-slow Catley and got herself into a one on one with Lydia Williams.

VAR STILL NOT A CLEAR AND OBVIOUS PROCESS

Dare we say VAR-cical? The problematic implementation of the technology was on show just before halftime when Thorisdottir appeared to bend down and push and Ellie Carpenter cross away with her upper arm. 

German referee Riem Hussein awarded the penalty immediately but then waited for the VAR to have a look. After a long review, throughout which penalty-taker Kerr was left standing on the spot, Hussein overturned the decision.

Thorisdottir had clearly moved her body towards the ball and, even if there was question, it did not meet the clear and obvious error threshold. Compounding the decision was that Australia had further penalty appeals waved away.

Sam Kerr reacts to missing her penalty

KERR-RIFFIC REPUTATION HELPS MATILDAS

The superstar striker was a marked woman, the Norwegians not giving her an inch of space. The result was a tough shift for Kerr but less defenders on Foord and Raso, who plotted and schemed and engineered flashes of promising attacking passages that showed it is possible to break down a disciplined Nordic defence.

Raso in particular was a delight with nippy runs and turns into space in the box but continues to lack the finishing touch, shooting straight into the waiting arms of Ingrid Hjelmseth.

OFFSIDE KILLED THE KERR

It was just before the hour, shots were flying off the rack like the X hotcake and she looked to have (finally) found the equaliser Australia so sorely needed. Kerr collected a pass and took her time to set up a lovely finish, but the celebrations were quickly cut short when the flag went up for a clear offside.

The almost-goal had the Matildas’ tails up and Yallop, Raso, Foord and Kerr rained down on goal and gave it everything but the finish.

KELLOND-KNIGHT IN ARMOUR

Australia had the lion’s share of possession at the momentum yet still struggled to create any real chances. Step up Kellond-Knight for an inswinging corner that rushed through the legs of both Matildas and defenders and tucked inside the far post.

MATILDAS LAMENT VAR IMPACT

The Matildas have lamented the big decisions that didn’t go their way in Sunday’s World Cup-ending penalty-shootout defeat to Norway.

The video assistant referee came in for widespread condemnation in Sunday morning’s round-of-16 sudden-death showdown in Nice.

The most contentious incident came when German referee Riem Hussein awarded Australia a penalty after Maria Thorisdottir appeared to bend down and push an Ellie Carpenter cross away with her upper arm.

The VAR reviewed the decision for several minutes and Hussein ran over to watch the replay on her screen for even longer, yet still eventually concluded the decision met the threshold for a clear and obvious error and should be overturned.

“I would have loved to have seen that back on replay,” said midfielder Tameka Yallop.

The Matildas campaign has come to a heartbreaking end

“I only saw it from my angle but I definitely thought it threw a lot of momentum into the ball in clearing it and it was going directly to one of our players. I thought it was definitely a pen.”

Controversy hit again when the VAR didn’t check a handball, and again when Yallop was brought down in the box but a penalty not considered.

“I think there needs to be a lot more clarity around the decisions of the referees,” said defender Alanna Kennedy

“I think it’s been questionable throughout the whole tournament, and that's not the way we want to play.”

Kennedy herself spent the final 15 minutes of extra-time in the change rooms after being shown a straight red card for pulling on the shirt of Lisa-Marie Utland as the last defender.

“I felt at the time that my body was in front of hers and it was more or less a 50/50 and as a striker you go down and milk it a little bit,” Kennedy said.

“But the decision is what it is and the girls did really well to get us into penalties and that shows the character in our team. We will come back from this.”

Milicic said he looked at the red card call on his computer after the game.

“I thought the ball was going to the goalkeeper, but in the end it changes momentum, it changes your shape,” Milicic said.

“I thought a lot of the big decisions tonight didn’t go our way. On another night, it could have.

“We can sit and talk was it this or that, but in the end, I feel for Alanna. She has been outstanding all tournament and doesn’t deserve to finish her tournament individually in that manner.

“I don’t know if there are any words to describe how I’m feeling, more importantly how the girls are feeling.

“The first 10 to 15 minutes we started really well and had clear-cut chances to take the lead.

“We can talk about a lot of decisions by the referee, coming back, the spirit the girls had to come back, the send-off, the shootout, there is a lot to comment on.

“But in the end, I am extremely disappointed. We’re eliminated. We go home.”

WHAT THEY SAID:

Sam Kerr

"I am proud of the team, we fought back, went down a man. It sucks to lose on penalties. We will learn from this and grow from this.

"I think the first half wasn't our best but the second we came out and dominated. We would like to have won it in the 90, but this is how you grow and becomes stronger.

"I feel like we have let some people down. I'm proud of the team, a lot of girls have sacrificed so much to be here. We have stuck together through thick and thin and this has been a rollercoaster ride for us. "

Caitlin Foord:

"I'm shattered, this is a dream to win a World Cup, to go home now is heartbreaking. There's so many emotions right now, it is hard to remember what went on. Possibly (unfair from the ref) but it doesn't matter now anyways.

"We gave it all we could, a game can go any way, we're a strong group and we stay together. Now we look at Olympic qualification.

"We would say sorry (to the supporters), we appreciate all the support, keep believing in us."

Originally published as Women's Football World Cup 2019: Matildas crash out on penalties

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