Matildas launch into orbit: double flash of Hayley’s comet keeps stars’ dream alive
A comprehensive 4-0 win over Canada has propelled Australia into the final 16 of the Women’s World Cup - and captain Sam Kerr didn’t even play.
Sam Kerr was chewing gum when she arrived at AAMI Park in Melbourne. She spat it out before kick-off. The Matildas’ bubble was not yet ready to burst.
Let’s start at the start of a thrilling evening for the World Cup co-hosts. A sharp-dressed man was at the Melbourne ground three hours early. He wore an impeccable suit and polished shoes. His name was John Aloisi. You looked at him and thought, well, how symbolic of what the Matildas need. A John Aloisi moment or four.
■ RECAP:How the match unfolded
Kerr arrived soon afterwards. She had everything packed in her bag: boots, socks, shorts, her shirt, a secret. Would she start or come off the bench against Canada? Play a lot of minutes or just a few?
A loss would have forced the Matildas to pack their bags and go home. That would have been embarrassing. They were already home.
The Matildas were so adrenalised, so authoritative, so powerful and so dominant in their 4-0 triumph they didn’t even need their captain.
Did we previously properly appreciate the grit and grunt of these players? The Matildas are not a one-woman team.
It was a rousing, chest-thumping, foot-stomping, full-throated, triumphant night for a side that showed how tough it is under the most excruciating pressure. This was cutthroat sport without a millimetre of breathing space – and they nailed it.
When Hayley Raso found the net in the ninth minute, you’ve rarely heard a noise like it. Steph Catley was called off-side in the build-up but the video referee overruled it. Three cheers went up for the video referee.
Mary Fowler thought she had scored but the video official was less obliging. Rarely heard jeering like it. It was the rowdiest crowd of the Matildas’ campaign. Less children and more diehard soccer fans singing, clapping, drumbeating and chanting at the top of their lungs. “Matildas” was a bit of a mouthful so they reverted to “Aus-sies! Aus-sies!”
Raso scored again in the 39th minute. Fowler notched one in the 58th minute. Steph Catley converted a 90th-minute penalty. And the Matildas’ finished top of their group, leapfrogging both Canada and Nigeria, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Ireland.
A decent work shift. That’s Raso’s reaction to the Matildas’ electrifying 4-0 win over Canada that sent the Australians cartwheeling and backflipping into the last 16 at the World Cup – and the acrobatic captain Sam Kerr didn’t even play. It was such a wildly entertaining, emotional, celebratory and triumphant evening that the Matildas stayed on the field to lap up the deafening crowd so long they only just departed before the lights went out.
Not a bad night at the office, Raso said. Which didn’t quite do it justice. That was one of the great nights in Australian sport as Raso’s two goals – Hayley’s comets – gave the Matildas a lead they ran with all the way home. “We knew we had to give it absolutely everything tonight and we left it all out there, and to get the goals just topped it all off for me,” she said. “I’m hugely proud. The girls put in a shift, everybody pulled for each other and you could see it out there. I can’t really describe the crowd, they lifted us tonight. To score in front of my family and this amazing crowd is so, so special. We knew we had to win, our backs were against the wall, we showed that never say die attitude. Tonight was such a big game and I think we showed everybody what we can do.”
Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson’s plans for Kerr had been marked confidential – he has a bigger chamber of secrets than Salazar Slytherin – and the scoreline meant he didn’t have to rush her return from a calf injury.
Starting on the bench, she took no part in the warm-up, chomping on her gum, rarely getting out of her puffer jacket. Few people in Melbourne ever do. Elimination from the tournament would have been the most infamous dismissal involving a Kerr since Whitlam was given the heave-ho. Didn’t happen.
The Matildas attacked. They played tough. They prevailed. They gave Kerr the night off as Fowler held the audience in the palm of her hand. It was a great evening of sport and the show rolls on. The Matildas are into the round of 16. Aloisi looked chuffed.
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