All week, the question for the Matildas had been where the goals would come from, in the absence of injured captain Sam Kerr and, more recently, concussed striker Mary Fowler. On Thursday night, it turned out that was the wrong question. Nigeria put three past a shell-shocked Australia to silence the home crowd and leave the Matildas’ Women’s World Cup dreams hanging by a thread. Without Kerr and Fowler, the Australians found two goals – only they had not counted on conceding three.
How a game, and possibly a whole World Cup campaign, can change in a heartbeat. Following a dominant but goalless first 45 minutes, the Matildas opened the scoring in the first minute of injury time. When the moment came, the Matildas streamed towards their bench. After a week of adversity – Kerr’s late withdrawal before the team’s opening match, concussions to Fowler and Aivi Luik, questions about whether the Matildas could withstand this pressure – the players knew instinctively where they wanted to be.
Moving as one, the golden-clad Matildas covered half the pitch in seconds. This is a team of 23, and with captain Kerr, Fowler and co on the bench, there was only one place for the 11 starters to celebrate. Had the Matildas held on to their advantage, this might have become the iconic scene of the tournament – an inflection point that could define a campaign.
What a goal it had been. A poorly-placed goal-kick from Nigeria custodian Chiamaka Nnadozie late in the first half was expertly gathered by Katrina Gorry, dispatching Arsenal striker Caitlin Foord down the left flank. Cortnee Vine made the first darting move into the box, but it was Emily van Egmond trailing behind her who connected with Foord’s cross. Van Egmond had been Tony Gustavsson’s gamble on Thursday night – the one change after Fowler was ruled out. The Swedish coach could have opted for youthful exuberance in Alex Chidiac, or creativity from Tameka Yallop. Instead, it was Van Egmond in her 130th match for the Matildas.
The two goals shattered the tension that had descended over Brisbane Stadium, after the Matildas controlled but failed to execute in ordinary time. Corner, corner, chance, corner, corner, chance, corner, corner, chance – thus it had gone, albeit without the cutting edge of Kerr or Fowler (nor, for that matter, the strike trio of Asisat Oshoala, Francisca Ordega or Deborah Abiodun for Nigeria). Until the two goals in quick succession, it had been a knock to Vine and subsequent concussion test (passed without difficulty) that had troubled the Matildas more than any Nigerian threat. How that would change.
A week on from the record-breaking crowd at Stadium Australia in Sydney, it was Brisbane’s turn to host the hottest ticket in town. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, foreign minister Penny Wong and basketball star Patty Mills were among those in the VIP seats, along with almost 50,000 other fans who filled Caxton Street pre-match before decamping to Brisbane Stadium.
