Sam Kerr scored, and Australia won.
That’s normally a pretty good recipe for the Matildas, but on this occasion the final product felt slightly underbaked as Australia ran out 1-0 winners over the Philippines to open their AFC Women’s Asian Cup account.
When Kerr, the hometown hero in her native Perth, opened the scoring after just 14 minutes the record crowd of more than 44,000 probably expected to see Australia storm to something similar to the 8-0 win they had when the two sides last met, ironically at the same venue, back in 2023. On that occasion Kerr scored a hattrick as Australia ran riot.
Tonight was a very different story.
A narrow offside call denied Hayley Raso a second that perhaps might’ve opened things up for Australia, but despite their promising early efforts, Australia failed to trouble the scorers for the remainder of the evening.
Perhaps looking to protect their goal difference, the Philippines retreated and often played with all 11 players behind the ball, clogging the space and denying space for Australia’s attacking weapons, and rarely threatening at the other end without the injured Sarina Bolden.
Described after the game by Steph Catley as a “typical first game of the tournament performance”, it was three points nonetheless that gets Australia on the board.
Tournaments aren’t won in the first game, and coach Joe Montemurro will be reminding the team of that as they head to the Gold Coast ahead of Thursday evening’s clash with Iran.
WHAT WE LEARNED
Work To Do: Despite taking the three points, Joe Montemurro still has plenty of work to do on the training pitch if this team is to go all the way to claim silverware later this month. From choosing the right option in attack and the attacking combinations themselves, the Matildas weren’t bad but were just a little off in Perth.
Fowler on Fire: Despite only just returning from a lengthy layoff after her ACL injury, Mary Fowler had lost none of her touch as she impressed with a cameo off the bench and threatened to break the game open for the Matildas. Eased into the tournament by Montemurro, who chose not to risk his star playmaker, she more than staked her claim for greater involvement and looms as perhaps Australia’s most important player over the next three weeks.
WHAT THEY SAID
Joe Montemurro – Australia Coach: “It’s the big conundrum in football, isn’t it? We all talk about final third and finishing, a lot of it’s instinctive, a lot of it’s being a lot smarter in the moment, a lot of it’s just having that coldness in front of the box.
“Can we do better? Yeah, absolutely, but we’re getting there. We’re getting in and around the areas. The more we grow into the tournament, the more we control these moments, the more we’ll benefit. But we controlled the situation and that was the most important thing.”
Sam Kerr – Australia Captain: “I just wanted to get that first goal out of the way, it kind of felt like getting the monkey off my back – my first goal for the national team again – because I hadn’t scored in a while.
“To do it here in Perth was extra special and to do it in the (Women’s) Asian Cup was nice. It was nice to get the win, nice to be at home and the weather was good too.
“Today was a good start, there’s lots of belief within the team, but as you saw today there’s a lot of of quality teams at the (Women’s) Asian Cup, so you have to take one game at a time.”
Caitlin Foord – Australia: “I think we have a lot to work on, we would’ve loved to get a few more goals. But credit to the Philippines, they worked really hard to keep us out, but our goal today was just to get the win and get the job done and we did that.
“I think for us we’ve got to build into this tournament, it’s been a while since we played together, so I think we’re just getting back into the flow of things and building relationships again and that’s going to keep growing and growing with every game we play.”
WHAT COMES NEXT
Both teams now travel the massive 4200km journey across Australia to the glorious Gold Coast, where Australia will be hoping to make it two from two and the Philippines will be hoping to spring a surprise against the finalists from 2022.
Philippines vs Korea Republic
Thursday 5 March at 1:00pm
Gold Coast Stadium
Iran vs Australia
Thursday 5 March at 7:00pm
Gold Coast Stadium
