Quarter Volley

I caught the start of the 2nd half. It was 1-0 in favor of Canada, who needed to beat Australia in order to advance to the knockout stage of the Women’s World Cup. Australia needed to at least draw in order to advance, and they’d fallen behind on the 2nd fastest goal in WWC history, a Melissa Tancredi strike after 31 seconds - incidentally just 1 second off the record. The exciting start was no match for the 2nd half action.

On 53 minutes, Australian midfielder Collette McCallum curled a left-footed free kick over the wall and into the back of the net past diving Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod to level the match and move Australia into position to advance. The Matildas did not stop there, continuing to attack through Lisa De Vanna and Sarah Walsh, looking for the goal that would give them the lead in the match and all but seal their progress into the next round. Instead, in the 85th minute, Christine Sinclair of Canada scored when a corner kick to the far post was headed back across the goal and she found herself unmarked to nod it home. Canada was back in front and back in position to advance. Back came Australia, throwing everything forward, and they were rewarded in the 2nd minute of stoppage when De Vanna beat two Canadian defenders inside the 18 and squared a pass to an unmarked Cheryl Salisbury who calmly side-footed the ball into the net past the scrambling Taryn Swiatek, who entered the game for an injured McLoed on 79 minutes.

The game ended 2-2, and Australia advanced. They’ve made history already, winning a World Cup match for the first time in Australian history when they beat Ghana 4-1 on September 12th. They’ve now advanced to the knockout stage for the first time with today’s result. What’s next?

photo credit: fifa.com