Emily van Egmond’s injury time screamer salvages critical draw for Matildas

The Matildas were staring down the barrel, until midfielder Emily van Egmond’s stunning strike in injury time secured a critical draw.

The Matildas were staring down the barrel, until midfielder Emily van Egmond’s stunning strike in injury time secured a critical draws.

Matildas star Emily van Egmond struck an added-time screamer to salvage a 1-all draw in their Olympic qualifying clash with China in Sydney.

When the Steel Roses broke the deadlock in the 86th minute through Tang Jiali, Australia was staring down the barrel of a shock loss at Bankwest Stadium on Thursday night.

But fresh off a maiden international hat-trick in Monday’s 6-0 rout of Thailand, van Egmond came to Australia’s rescue by blasting a 20-yard belter into the top left in the second minute of injury time.

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The late equaliser means the Matildas will face Vietnam in a two-match home-and-away playoff for a place in the Olympics, a significantly less intimidating opponent than South Korea, ranked No. 20 in the world.

HOLY SHIT!! THAT WAS CLUTCH!!! #AUSvCHN #matildas

— Dylan Alcott (@DylanAlcott) February 13, 2020

Sorry to my neighbours ....... good screams 🥴🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌@matildas 1-1 China 🇨🇳 https://t.co/cMTlNKPgef

— Shannon Byrne (@shannonbyrne23) February 13, 2020

Matildas. Wow!!! @TheMatildas

— Paddy Sweeney (@SweeneyPaddy9) February 13, 2020

That was one of the most inspiring underdog performances you are likely to witness from China.

With everything they have dealt with in the last 2 weeks that performance was remarkable.

Delighted for @TheMatildas but actual feel for China. Deserved more #China #Matildas

— Rob Cornthwaite (@robcornthwaite) February 13, 2020

Not in the mood to muck around, Matildas coach Ante Milicic opted for a full-strength side as he swung six changes.

Back in the starting line-up and wearing the captain’s armband, Sam Kerr showed no lingering signs of the troublesome quad that reduced her to bench cameos in Australia’s routs over Thailand and Taiwan.

The Chelsea superstar broke loose on goal in the third minute with a deft touch, playing a deft cut back to Caitlin Foord who sprayed her shot wide. Bristol City signing Chloe Logarzo soon went down clutching her face after a heavy challenge from Wu Haiyan.

It earned Australia a free-kick but van Egmond couldn’t produce a long-range effort to test Chinese shot-stopper Peng Shimeng.

The Matildas were dropping like flies at this point, with an inadvertent elbow from Zhai Qingwei to Hayley Raso’s face drawing blood.

Emily van Egmond celebrates with her teammates

After van Egmond drew a free kick, Brisbane Roar’s Elise Kellond-Knight smashed a long-distance rocket into the top right.

But Peng was equal to the task, parrying the shot wide.

Despite imposing themselves as the aggressor in the initial stages, the Matildas had nothing to show for it.

It was chaos moments later as Kellond-Knight thundered a clearance into the shins of Li Ying and almost ricocheted into the net.

China was slowly working their way into the match and striker Wang Shanshan would have been clean through on goal if not for an incorrect off-side call. Not to be denied, Wang struck the woodwork with a wobbly long-range effort before halftime.

China continued to cause the Matildas’ trouble after the break, with Tang leaving a trio of defenders in her wake before producing a low save from Lydia Williams.

Kerr picked Yao Lingwei’s pocket to kickstart a promising Australian counter- attack but Raso — not for the first time — couldn’t breach China’s walls. With half an hour left, the visitors butchered a golden three-on-two as Wang skied her shot well over the bar.

Australia’s resistance was broken as Ma Jun teed up Tang for a blistering 86th-minute strike from outside the box before van Egmond found one of her own to save the Aussies.

The Matildas finish atop the Group B table on goal difference, and will face Vietnam at Newcastle next month, playing for a ticket to Tokyo.

AAP