The Matildas have recorded their first win in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 after they defeated Equatorial Guinea 3-2 in their second Group D match in Bochum, Germany.
WAIS-AIS athlete Collette McCallum captained the Australians and produced a fine performance, whilst fellow WAIS-AIS footballer Sam Kerr started her first ever World Cup match for the Matildas.
Having taken an early 1-0 lead through a Leena Khamis strike, the Australians were denied a clear-cut penalty, after an Equatorial Guinea defender inexplicably handled the ball following a Khamis shot that struck the upright on 15 minutes.
Australia were forced to defend the last seven minutes of the match after Anonman’s second goal in the 83rd minute gave Equatorial Guinea a slight hope of a comeback but goals from Leena Khamis, Emily van Egmond and Lisa De Vanna were enough to give Matildas their first three points of the competition.
“I can’t be any happier in my first World Cup; to get a goal, an assist and three points which was the main thing for today,” said Khamis on her first World Cup appearance.
“It was a good strike from Heather Garriock and the keeper made a good save and I just followed up on it. It wasn’t going anywhere but the back of the net.”
Head Coach Tom Sermanni made five changes to the starting line-up which included a rare start for goalkeeper Lydia Williams while Collette McCallum was given the captain’s armband for the match.
The combination of McCallum, Van Egmond, Garriock and Sally Shipard in midfield produced plenty of chances for Australia in the early stages of the match. Garriock had Australia’s first two chances in the third and seventh minutes but her shots could not find the target.
The Matildas opened the scoring in 8th minute. A poor clearance from an Equatorial Guinea’s defender was intercepted by Shipard before passing the ball to Van Egmond. Van Egmond’s clever chip over the head of the last Equatorial Guinea’s defender found Garriock. Her shot was parried by the goalkeeper but Khamis was first to the rebound as she smashed the ball into the net for Australia’s first goal.
Khamis came close to doubling Australia’s lead in the 15th minute. From a cross on the left, Khamis was first to the ball but her shot came off the post. Equatorial Guinea’s defender Bruna seemed to have heard a whistle and picked up the ball but the referee did not blow the whistle and the match was played on as the Australian players appealed for a penalty.
Against the run of play, Equatorial Guinea found themselves level after 21 minutes. Anonman stole the ball from Servet Uzunlar before dribbling past goalkeeper Williams to equalise for Equatorial Guinea.
Captain McCallum almost put the Matildas ahead two minutes before half time but her well struck free kick came off the crossbar as both teams went into the break tied at 1-1.
De Vanna came on for Shipard at the start of the second half after Shipard failed to recover from a tackle late in the first half.
The substitution made an immediate impact to the Matildas as they scored twice in the first six minutes. The first goal coming in the 48th minute when De Vanna failed to make contact with Khamis’ cross from the left but Van Egmond was on hand to fire her shot home.
The goal gave Australia the momentum and they stretched their lead three minutes later.
McCallum’s pinpoint ball from the middle of the field found De Vanna as she made the slightest of touch to slot the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper.
With two goals down, Equatorial Guinea made two attacking changes and almost reduced the deficit in the 70th minute but Anonman’s shot forced Williams to make a fingertip save.
McCallum’s was once again unlucky not to have her name on the scorer’s sheet after her cross-cum-shot in the 76th minute came off the post. That was her last contribution of the game as she was substituted for Clare Polkinghorne.
Equatorial Guinea was given a lifeline with seven minutes to go when Uzunlar made another error, giving the ball cheaply to Anonman. Anonman made no mistake as she hit her shot past Williams to reduce the deficit to one goal.
The Matildas were forced to defend the last seven minutes of the game but they held on to claim their first three points of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011.
Speaking after the match, Head Coach Tom Sermanni was happy with the team’s second half performance but believe that there are certain aspects of the game that needs to be improved.
“We got the result. We should have sealed the game a lot earlier that we did. There were some good passages of play and then there were some poor passages of play that we need to pick up on if we want to go further in this tournament.”
“We got to look at how we perform and how we play. For 90% of second half in particular, we played very well. There are some aspects of the game that we need to sort out before Norway.”
“At least we know that if we win the game against Norway, we have a good chance of qualifying.”
The Matildas next match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 is against Norway on Wednesday, 6 July. (2am AEST, Thursday, 7 July)
-FFA
