The Matildas' final preparations for the Paris Olympics have got off to a rusty start after a scrappy 1-1 draw with China in Adelaide on Friday.
Australia's coach Tony Gustavsson fielded a largely experimental line-up for the opening hour of the Adelaide Oval fixture, but they were upstaged by the reigning Asian Cup champions, with a well-organised and disciplined China keeping the Matildas shotless for the first half.
And while a sell-out 52,912 people had packed in to see the Matildas strut their stuff, they were instead silenced in the 30th minute after Chinese winger Zhang Linyan opened the scoring, volleying home a cross from Central Coast Mariners winger Wurigumula.
But veteran striker Michelle Heyman came to the rescue in stoppage-time of the first half, tapping in from a goal-mouth scramble after a Mary Fowler free kick was fumbled by China's goalkeeper.
Before the match, Gustavsson said he remained undecided on four spots for the 18-woman squad to contest the Paris Olympics starting in late July. The team's starting XI reflected his need to test out those peripheral players, beginning without big guns Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, Ellie Carpenter, Hayley Raso and Kyra Cooney-Cross.
But the team that started the game struggled to break down a tightly-packed Chinese defence, and regularly coughed up possession before being punished by quick transitional counter-attacks.
While the momentum of the game began to swing after five senior players were substituted on in the 60th minute, winger Caitlin Foord lasted just 15 minutes, leaving the field after being felled in a tackle, despite appearing in no great discomfort.
Following a tepid opening 29 minutes, China struck on the half-hour when a fast break down the right flank left Australia's Kaitlyn Torpey sprawled in the grass after grappling with powerful striker Wurigumula.
As the pair jostled, Torpey slipped and fell to ground — replays showed a slight tug on her jersey from her opponent — while Wurigumula was quick to recover from the contact, her follow-up cross into the box deflected into the path of Zhang, who scored with a reflex right footer.
After half time, Australia showed far greater attacking intent and almost had a reward in the 56th minute when Cortnee Vine swung a cross into the box.
The ball landed near Fowler who was set to pull the trigger and shoot, but advancing China keeper Xu Huan knocked the ball away. Six minutes later, Gustavsson made five substitutions, summoning Catley, Foord, Raso, Carpenter and Kyra Cooney-Cross.
The injection of the Matildas mainstays had instant impact, with the Australians crafting a series of scoring chances through Raso and Fowler, though a scrambling China kept the Matildas scoreless.
But in a bizarre series of events in stoppage time, where Australia won a free kick just outside China's penalty spot after the goalkeeper slid out to collect an innocuous ball only to hand-ball it and give a set piece away, a powerful striker by Fowler was fumbled by Xu and duly poked home by Heyman.
The Matildas meet China again in Sydney on Monday night and Gustavsson will announce his Olympic squad the following day.
Check out how the game unfolded in our live blog below.
See you Monday!
I still think Heyman's (and Fowler's) issues tonight were more about distribution. They both should be on the plane to Paris. But maybe those in midfield (who aren't feeding through enough quality ball) should be a bit worried - they need to step up and do better in the next leg.
- Ingrid
I think tonight that those who are already locked in to the Olympic squad are there for a reason…not sure any of the questions Tony had about the remaining four players were really answered tonight
- Tania
I think we're all on the same page about tonight's game: the Matildas definitely didn't show enough against China to convince us of anything, so they'll really need to step it up in the second match in Sydney on Monday to settle out nerves about their readiness for the Olympics.
We'll have a match report out shortly, but for now, thanks so much for engaging with the blog tonight, and I'll see you all again here on Monday night from 7:00pm AEST!
Until then, enjoy your weekend, and gooooo Tillies!!!
So what did you make of that?
Redemption rocks. Phew! Okay, how do you pick an optimal 18 squad out of that? I guess that's why Tony's paid the big bucks. More questions than answers, maybe the answers'll arrive on Monday. Thanks Sam!
- Big Ben
High energy and effort leads to chances and finally a goal. Why did they play so conservatively for the first 88 minutes? Raso showed the way
- Tobi
Matildas lack quality. Any squad with EVE and Polkinghorne hasn't hope against the new top nations.
- The bill
Great to see Michelle Heyman score at the death to salvage the draw, she'll definitely be on the plane to Paris in July.
- Adam
What’s the answer? Give them time (and hope Ford’s injury heals)
- Betty
Whenever the Matildas have two-game windows, they do tend to be quite rusty and slow in the first of the two matches. So in that context, tonight's game isn't a huge surprise, nor is it a shock given the five changes Tony Gustavsson made to the starting line-up.
And yet... with Paris less than two months away... the Matildas don't really have time to be this sloppy, do they? They certainly won't be forgiven for it against the USA, Germany, and Zambia.
But who do you reckon impressed tonight? Did any player convince you that they should go to the Olympics? Or do we need another game to figure it out?
Heyman redemption!
Let the scoreboard show that it was Michelle Heyman who equalised. I won’t hear a bad word said about her! (even if she didn’t have a great game :) ⚽️
Add Category