The Matildas will continue to defend their honor as the host team of the Women’s World Cup. To advance, they beat Olympic champions Canada 4-0 thanks to a double from Hayley Raso and goals from Mary Fowler and captain Steph Catley. Melbourne Stadium witnessed this with 27,706 spectators.
The Canadians tried to turn the game around, but their best chance came in the 67th minute, but neither before nor after was it clear. With this result, the Maple national team closed its worst World Cup since 2011. The locals completed the scoring in injury time, when VAR judged that a tackle by Canadian Jessie Fleming had hit Katrina’s foot Gorry just inside the box. Skipper Catley stepped up and produced a superb shot from the penalty spot to make it 4-0.
The win means Australia will top their group following Nigeria’s draw with Ireland in their clash in Brisbane. The Matildas face the Group D finalists in Sydney on Monday August 7, with England, Denmark and China likely rivals. Australia have consistently progressed past the group stage in the last five editions of the World Cup, but only in 2007 failed to qualify.
Above all, star striker Samantha Kerr remained on the bench due to her calf injury.
The four-goal gap marked Australia’s biggest World Cup victory, surpassing 4-1 victories over Ghana in 2007 and Jamaica in 2019.
The other teams confirmed for the round of 16 are Switzerland against Spain and Japan against Norway.
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