‘I’ve got work to do here’: Matildas hero Raso signals more magic to come

Real Madrid’s Hayley Raso scores a double as Australia top their home World Cup group. It’s probably not a sentence the Matildas winger thought she’d hear in her wildest dreams.

“Probably not,” she says. “It feels amazing. I’ve got work to do here. We need to get the job done here and then I’ll move forward to Real Madrid and what’s to come next.”

Raso had her name in lights on Monday night, with a brace — her first World Cup goals — that set her country on its way to qualifying for the knockout stage.

“Hayley Raso, you’re a deadset legend!!!” Craig Foster tweeted. And she was — even if she had to go on a VAR-inflicted rollercoaster ride to get there.

Her ninth-minute finish into the bottom corner set the tone for the evening. She had barely had time to celebrate before it was chalked off for offside and then, on review, reinstated.

The goal itself was the result of some brilliant team work as stand-in skipper Steph Catley flew down the left flank and unleashed a low cross into the box. Then time seemed to stand still as Raso pounced, took a settling touch on the outside of her right boot and whipped her finish into the far corner.

“I felt like I had a little bit too much time and I was like, ‘just make sure you score’,” she said. “I was ecstatic and quickly turned, was like ‘oh, it isn’t even a goal’.

“But when I saw the girls all put their hands up, I actually didn’t hear that it was a goal. I just fell to my knees. So it was, that’s my first World Cup goal. So it was pretty special.”

It marked something of a comeback for Raso, who has been a key cog in Australia’s attack since well before the 2019 finals in France, but has this past season struggled for first-team opportunities at Manchester City, where England’s Chloe Kelly returned from injury to take the starting spot she had relished the year before.

Last month she made the move to Real Madrid, becoming the first Australian player to sign with the Spanish giants and one of few Australians to play in Spain’s top flight, joining John Aloisi, Aurelio Vidmar, Mat Ryan and Awer Mabil.

Australia’s Hayley Raso celebrates after scoring her side’s second goal on Monday.Credit: AP

“The facilities are amazing, the pitch is incredible, the stadium — it’s all incredible and I’m just so excited to be here,” she said in July. “Real Madrid are a team that are pushing in the league, they are playing in the Champions League, so for me it’s about coming into this team, challenging myself.”

On Monday night, when Raso was subbed off late in the 4-0 rout, the 28-year-old with the ribbons in her hair received a standing ovation from almost every one of the 27,000 in attendance at AAMI Park to witness the magic.

“It was such a special night,” she says. “We came out. We performed so well. We had so much energy and we knew we needed to put in a real good performance.

“I think we were rewarded, coming off and seeing the other result [Ireland and Nigeria drew] had fallen our way as well and topping the group. So yeah, much deserved for us, I think.

“We knew we needed to come out with a lot of energy. We wanted to turn around the performance from the game before.

“We always fight, we’ll fight for each other. We work hard. We had our backs against the wall and we showed what we can do. Like I said, just so happy and super proud of the girls.”

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