Who needs Sam Kerr? Apparently, not the Australian women’s national team.
On the weekend, New Zealand became the first-ever Women’s World Cup host to fail to advance to the knockout stage. Monday morning, Australia made sure it would not be the second.
With a big 4-0 win over Canada, the Matildas clinched their spot in the Round of 16 while Canada crashes out in the group stage.
Hayley Raso scored two first-half goals before Mary Fowler added to the Canadians’ pain in the second half. Steph Catley wrapped things up by converting a penalty in the fourth minute of second-half injury time.
With the near-full support of Melbourne Rectangular Stadium behind them, the Matildas clearly were the superior side in this one, even without superstar Kerr.
Kerr, who had said during the week that she was ready to return from a pre-tournament calf injury, wasn’t needed in this one. The striker didn’t even take warm-ups, will now get another week to rest up before Australia’s next game.
Really, you have to wonder how bad this could’ve gotten for Canada had Kerr been good enough to play.
This was the biggest test Canada had faced Down Under and it failed miserably. There was a lack of quality chances, too much looking around on defence and too many times that Canada was a step slow to the ball.
It took Canada until the 66th minute to get a shot on target and was already trailing 3-0 at that point.
They say that possession is nine-tenths of the law, but in football, it matters more what you do with it. While Canada had the ball for large swathes of the game, every time it got into the attacking third, the final pass was either off the mark or right at Aussie goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.
It’s a similar refrain from what we’ve been saying most of this tournament. Apart from the second half against Ireland, Canada was not nearly sharp enough when it got around the box.
Sophie Schmidt, who announced before the tournament that she would be retiring after the World Cup, echoed that sentiment post-game.
“I don’t think there’s any words for how we’re feeling right now,” Schmidt said. “We’re shook, we’re disappointed. I think there’s a feeling we let Canada down.”
The veteran took accountability for her play, while acknowledging the team just wasn’t up to snuff against the Aussies.
“Me, personally, I should have had two goals and their goal was my fault,” she said. “Little mistakes, individual errors all over the field.”
And now, it will have a year to work on things before defending its Olympic gold medal in Paris next summer. Whether Christine Sinclair is part of that team remains to be seen, but she clearly isn’t the player she once was – it’s hard to blame her at 40 years old.
Manager Bev Priestman elected to start Sinclair after having brought her off the bench against Ireland to great effect. This time, there was no such boost.
Similar to that game, Canada found itself in an early hole – only this time it couldn’t dig itself out.
Canada thought it had gotten away with a close call after the Matildas’ Raso beat Kailen Sheridan after receiving a cross from Steph Catley, as the offside flag went up.
However, after a second look with VAR, Vanessa Gilles had played Catley onside in the buildup, allowing the goal to stand and giving the home side a 1-0 lead.
After that setback, Canada dominated in possession for the next stretch of the game but couldn’t create any real moments for trouble for the Aussies.
VAR did come to the rescue for Canada in the 33rd minute, when Ellie Carpenter was ruled to have been offside while impeding Sheridan and Kadeisha Buchanan while Fowler was pounding in a rebound that was sitting in the box.
The respite didn’t last long, as in the 39th minute, Australia came right back down and saw Raso easily score on a corner that fell to her in the box.
It was another example of Canada’s poor organization at the back as the marking on Raso was non-existent and Sheridan’s attempt to punch the ball clear can be described as poor at best.
Priestman made four changes at halftime, but there was no boost this time as there was against the Irish.
By the time that Fowler poked home the third goal in the 58th minute, the game already felt like it was over despite the clock still showed a half hour to play.
The fact is that this team had one really good half over three games and that’s simply not good enough to advance in tournament football, when the pressure is on.
“Reality is setting in that this is the end of our World Cup, but all credit to Australia, I mean, they were the better team tonight,” Priestman said.
It’s hard to argue with that assessment.