Okay, I’m off for a cup of tea and some M&Ms, and hope all of you out there in the world are recovering in similar fashion. It’s been a pleasure. See you next time.
Suzi Wrack was there in the flesh, and herewith her match report of that crazy, crazy game.
The Sweden v Japan match has finished at 3-1 which means Australia will face the world No 5, who are becoming very familiar foes. The Matildas played Sweden only six days ago in the group stage, when they lost 4-2. They are drew nil-nil in a friendly in June. In other words, Sweden are the monkey on Australia’s back. The game is scheduled for Monday at 8pm local time in Yokohama.
Canada will play either the Netherlands or the US on Monday at 5pm local time at the Kashima Stadium. The Americans are leading 2-1 in the second half in that rematch of the 2019 World Cup final, which they also won.
There are tears on both sides of the divide at Kashima Stadium. White is distraught. For Australia, the last four is the furthest they have been at at either an Olympics or a World Cup. They will play either Sweden or Japan on Monday. Sweden are currently up 3-1 in the second half of their quarter-final.
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Australia progress to the semi-finals and Team GB’s Olympics campaign comes to an end in the last eight, just as it did at London 2012. They were excellent, the Brits. White in particular was deft in her skill and merciless in her execution. She had a hat-trick, and even that wasn’t enough. Had Micah not saved Weir’s penalty kick, this would have gone to a shootout. The Australian goalkeeper was superb. Kerr’s brace was dazzling. This match was worthy of all the superlatives.
Full-time! Team GB 3-4 Australia
120+2 mins Stanway was shown a yellow for that. Fowler has the ball down in GB’s left corner and is somewhat manhandled. GB have one last chance, one last foray. Too late, the whistle blows.
120 mins Kerr is in defensive mode too, and on a mission to put the ball anywhere but inside Australia’s half. It’s out, but she doesn’t care. Catley has just clashed with Stanway and drops to the turf. She wins a free kick. We have two minutes of added time.
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119 mins Parris is dispossessed by Logarzo. Back GB come. They have a corner. Kirby will take it. She offers supply but none of her teammates can get on the end of it.
118 mins Parris hoicks the ball in and it’s sent straight back. But Riise’s women are hunting and not letting up.
117 mins It’s not over until the fat lady sings, but she is four minutes away from song and Team GB still need a fourth goal if they are to send this encounter to penalties. Can anyone breathe? Another British attacking wave is hacked away.
Goal! Team GB 3-4 Australia
115 mins Scott wins a corner. Yallop is barking orders at Logarzo to move to the near post. The corner is scuffed away. White now is down. She doesn’t appeal for a penalty, just a corner. She gets one. It’s worked away from the near post but Kirby recycles and lays a golden chance on a plate for White, who makes no mistake with her head and has her hat-trick. How about this!
113 mins Bronze takes her leave for Georgia Stanway. Imperious as Bronze has been – and generally always is – the 29-year-old has appeared sapped of energy since the end of regulation time. Kirby takes a quick corner and Weir is hovering with ball. Hovering for too long.
111 mins There is still a sense that overall Team GB have had the upper hand, Australia have just been more clinical. Footballers love that word, don’t they.
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110 mins Regardless, Bronze is in a menacing position having been played in by Weir. Can she fashion something? Sort of, but it’s straight to Micah.
109 mins This match is helter-skelter. It’s a belter. Claire Polkinghorne is making her entrance now, replacing another substitute for Cooney-Cross. The teenager had a cracking W-League season with Melbourne Victory but Gustavsson is no doubt opting for both experience in a veteran and some defensive support.
Goal! Team GB 2-4 Australia
106 mins It’s Kerr again, and it’s a poacher’s goal – her specialty. She outleaps Houghton and deposits a header past Roebuck, who is surely embroiled in some sort of waking nightmare.
So it’s 8.15pm at Kashima Stadium and the temperature is still 25 degrees with 90% humidity. Sweat is pouring of the shirts of every player. They are back out on the pitch for this final period, Australia out to protect their lead and GB out to equalise.
Half-time of extra-time! Team GB 2-3 Australia
105 mins Fowler bolted into the Matildas’ 2019 World Cup squad but didn’t play. She made her Olympics debut as a starter against the USA and held her own. And now she’s scored against Team GB in a quarter-final. She can’t wipe the smile off her face. Australia have their tails up now as GB attempt a last attack. Time to regroup.
Goal! Team GB 2-3 Australia
104 mins May Fowler, that is an exquisite goal. She steps forward and her left laces belt through the ball. It takes a mildly fortunate deflection off Bronze but it was still a stunning hit that is well beyond Roebuck’s reach in the top corner.
Penalty saved! Team GB 2-2 Australia
101 mins Parris’s speed may come into play here. Astute move by Riise at this juncture. The Matildas are chasing their tails a little. They are pinned back as GB pass the ball fluidly. They are composed. Williamson slides in for a challenge on Catley that looks late but it is not pulled out. Oh! GB appeal for a penalty after Carpenter is adjudged to have brought down Parris. Weir steps up to the spot. Micah saves! She has been simply tremendous this keeper.
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97 mins Weir, for her part, is still full of energy. After an earlier foray down the left channel GB have utilised for much of this match she releases Walsh this time. GB have had the better of this first period of extra-time. Well and truly. Nikita Parris’s fresh legs replace Hemp’s weary one.
96 mins Micah, that is a top-drawer save, and it had to be to stop Walsh, who puts her boot through a the ball for a barrelling shot. White this time comes agonisingly close to a hat-trick after a goal-line scramble and Micah again is up to the task. That might have been an even more impressive save. That reflex.
Extra-time! Team GB 2-2 Australia
93 mins Britain engineers the first attack, Weir runs inside and has Kirby in her sights at the back post. No dice. Australia duck and weave and then run the ball up the other end. That was Mary Fowler, the teenager who was excellent against the USA at short notice when Foord was withdrawn during the warm-up.
Don writes in.
“Oh me of little faith. Had Matildas done. Kerr’s calmness and time so good. So who are the fitter team? GB look bigger. Aussies just brought on young players. Scales tip in AUS favour maybe.”
We shall find out, Don. We shall find out.
The British players appear as if they’re in genuine pain. Massages are happening and cramps being stretched out. Australia are a little more sprightly, in a huddle as listening to their manager.
We're going to extra time! Team GB 2-2 Australia
90+5 mins Walsh works the ball out to Bronze, who doesn’t really chase it. The final minutes sort of dissolves. There’s almost an air of inevitability for both sides, who make their way to their respective dugouts and begin to prepare. Prepare for the fatigue of another 30 minutes.
90+4 mins Australia clear their lines again. They are under real pressure now. GB have picked up the pace and are raining down on their counterparts. They want this over now. They don’t want extra time. Nobody wants penalties.
90+3 mins This is going to extra-time. Or is it? Scott slides the ball out wide in the hunt for a winner. GB recycle the ball, embark on another attack. They have a corner. Weir takes it and Houghton, at the back post smashes the ball into a green-and-gold wall.
90+1 mins In the nick of time, Kerr has equalised in emphatic fashion, right when Australia needed it so desperately. Like I said, give her a sniff. She gets one via a long ball and she turns Bright inside the box, does a pirouette and takes a shot with her right foot, straight past Houghton and into the net. That was as much GB’s fault as it was Kerr’s skill. Five minutes of added time.
Goal! Team GB 2-2 Australia
89 mins Who is it? It’s captain Kerr
88 mins Here’s Gielnik. This won’t be a very eloquent way of putting this, but she is a weapon. The winger added a physical presence at the 2019 World Cup and she has a one on one here courtesy of an aesthetically pleasing ball from Kerr. She tries to chip Roebuck but skews her shot wide.
85 mins Time is ticking, which is good for GB and less well, good, for Australia. A sense of urgency is palpable. Carpenter even wipes the ball down with vigour in preparation for a throw-in. It is in vein, though, because the Brits have already left the building that is their third and are on the counter. Micah is inexplicably of her line and cuts an anxious figure turning on her heels. Lucky for her, the speculative shot is well wide.
82 mins The Australia manager makes his move, introducing Kyra Cooney-Cross for Foord and Emily Gielnik for Luik. For Jill Scott replaces Kim Little. Weir has played some delightful inside balls in this second half and she does so again, releasing Hemp and having Australia’s defence in a panic.
79 mins Gustavsson, meanwhile, is pacing his technical area as substitutes warm up. Australia have yet another free kick. This time it’s at the feet of Catley, who dinks it in nicely but GB win the second ball and normality resumes. Catley makes her way to just inside the right corner flag for ANOTHER free kick. It zooms past Simon and takes a deflection of White, I think. The Matildas certainly think and appeal for a corner, which is not given.
76 mins Team GB half-appealed for a penalty after that Hemp-Raso moment. The referee wasn’t having it. Bright fouls Kerr in the middle. It’s getting a little messy out there. Emily van Egmond takes the free kick. It’s long and full of intent, but brought down before it can be capitalised upon.
73 mins Hemp is on the left edge of the box and it’s only excellent defending by Raso that stops her probing further. The ball to Hemp came from Weir, and it was a nice one too.
69 mins White is brutal. She has been knocking at the door for some time, but she made the Matildas pay for that defensive lapse. Yallop is upended by Little and Australia launch the ensuing free kick. Amid the mass movement and some confusion Simon earns herself a yellow card for a challenge on Little that leaves the attacker on the ground. Trainers are out there bandaging up her head.
Goal! Team GB 2-1 Australia
66 mins An Australian throw-in finds White. Her header bounces off Luik and then Kennedy and it dribbles backwards to a lurking White. She throws her right boot forward. Micah gets a glove to it but it’s not enough to stop it nestling into the bottom right corner.
65 mins While all of this was happening, GB have made to substitutions. Kirby replaces Daly and Millie Bright lets Stokes take her leave.
63 mins GB approach Australia’s third and they shift into that defensive shape again. Under pressure, Kennedy opts for a backpass to Micah, who restarts the attack. Raso squeezes into a sliver of an opening to no avail.
60 mins The ledger is levelled, so they say. I texted a friend at the break to say this would happen. I realise that peach of a goal had nothing to do with any social correspondence whatsoever, and more to do with Team GB’s resilience. Australia are pushing hard to regain the lead. Kerr crosses from the right to Foord at the back post. She shoots and the ball takes a deflection off Houghton before bouncing safely away from the goal line. That would have been an unfortunate own goal indeed.
Goal! Team GB 1-1 Australia
57 mins Hemp beats Kerr and gets away a ball with her left boot and White has a free header. She buries it. Micah can do nothing. Carpenter turns and surveys the damage.
56 mins Australia are throwing players behind the ball when Team GB are in possession, Carpenter and Catley tracking back to provide extra cover. The Brits are struggling to make headway, but Walsh makes a hint of an opening count, threading a pass to Hemp who turns and shoots – directly to Micah.
54 mins Kerr has come alive. She only needs a sniff Yallop engages Catley but she’s dispossessed by Hemp, who turns inside for a lovely ball that is almost immediately snatched back by their opponents. Simon outdoes Stokes and Raso is hurtling towards the right byline, getting a cross away in the nick of time. Kerr jumps and so does Foord but neither can connect.
52 mins Raso rushes forward and shuts down Stokes’s attempt to orchestrate an attack. Stokes gets another chance anyway but Australia have a throw-in and Kerr is away in space. She releases Foord who is dribbling and gains a few metres before finding herself surrounded.
49 mins Houghton has the ball at the back and she’s looking long, looking short. She opts for Stokes on the left but Australia pick her pocket and before you can Kyah Simon has a free header right in front of Roebuck’s goal. She can’t execute, diverts it straight to the goalkeeper. This has happened to Simon a couple of times this tournament.
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Second half! Team GB 0-1 Australia
47 mins The Matildas go for the jugular and win a corner. Catley makes her way over to the flag and Kennedy again is the player on the end of it. Well, almost on the end of it. The Matildas press, harry, hassle. White doesn’t like it.
Okay, when will the managers go to their benches? Will Riise make any tactical adjustments? The interesting element of that first half for me was that while Australia were good on the deal ball but failed to engineering anything really meaningful from open play. I wouldn’t bet against an equaliser. But we shall find out, because the players are back out and the second half is approaching.
Half-time! Team GB 0-1 Australia
45+1 mins Raso slides herself and the ball down the right flank and Carpenter is inside and forward with Hemp in chase. The pair have been at it the entire first half. Time runs out for Great Britain to equalise and they head to the change rooms. On balance, GB had the better of that 45 and it is reflected by their six shots to Australia’s two. As we know, though, the final ball has to follow all the ones before. GB have some work to do to stay in this tournament.
44 mins GB resettle. Daly passes to Bronze, to Houghton, to Williamson. Australia’s defensive line watch intently as opponents dart this way and that. They fashion an opening and a long cross is just ahead of White, who is positioned in front of goal. The ball is recycled but the opportunity fizzles. Back in the middle, Bronze is shown a yellow for a challenge on Catley.
41 mins This is an Kerr is cut down by Williamson and Australia have a free kick from just inside halfway. The Matildas captain rushes to the area but her head can’t connect with a long ball. Carpenter wins another after a tussle with White. White has her arm wrapped around Carpenter’s leg.
38 mins We have a game on our hands! This has been intriguing from the start and something finally gives as half-time approaches. Daly is on the turf and clutching at her leg in a worrying way but is soon up and back at it.
Goal! Team GB 0-1 Australia
35 mins Kerr has maybe her first real crack at once of the things she does best – running at players with the ball. Stokes has it covered. An ensuing corner, though, is not dealt with. Kennedy is the scorer. She rises above the throng and heads the ball forward and down. It takes a bounce then settles into the left corner as Roebuck dives to her right in vein. Kennedy does a dive and a slide. Gustavsson is off his bench in raptures and running at everybody with high fives.
33 mins Australia gift possession to Daly. Bronze is on the move and advancing at pace. Her ball forward is cleared by Kennedy. Mini-crisis remedied. Australia play through the middle and out to the right before passing to Catley on the left. She’s in an advanced position and may have taken that further but for Bronze’s intervention.
30 mins The shot count reads Britain six and Australia zero. Australia embark on a little foray down the right that ends with Foord duelling with Arsenal teammate Williamson. The Matildas are fashioning a little bit more at the minutes, retaining a little more possession as GB sit back and let their impenetrable defence do its work.
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27 mins Kerr is in trouble here. She races in to challenge hemp and earns a yellow card for her efforts. I’m not sure that was deserved actually – she appeared get the ball before making contact. Studs were down.
24 mins Little is playing very well. She’s getting into little pockets and making herself available. GB race down the left side again and a cross rebounds off the frame of goal and back into the path of Hemp. She chests it down and has it on target but Micah matches her with a successful parry.
21 mins Australia start to play out from the back. They begin well, until Carpenter’s pass asks a little too much of Raso, who is surrounded by white shirts. GB have a throw-in and it’s taken by Bronze but her receiver concedes a free kick. Luik makes it a short one to Catley, who sends the ball up and over to Alanna Kennedy. Houghton has it in hand.
17 mins Kerr handballs, perhaps under pressure, because GB are doing a fluent dance now. After a shaky start, everyone knows their moves. They are engineering chances and using the left flank, forcing Ellie Carpenter into a lot of running. Carpenter can run, to be fair.
15 mins Save! Daly again is in a very dangerous area and her shot sails towards a spot which looks to be a smidge below the crossbar. Micah leaps and gets a glove to it to tip it over. Here GB are again, back in Australia’s third and Walsh is the shot-taker this time. Her effort has Micah beaten and hits the post.
12 mins For all the Matildas’ intent in the opening exchanges, Kerr hasn’t managed to get in this much yet. Just as I type that, a long ball finds Kerr’s head and she uses the momentum to push it into GB’s box but it’s well handled. Chance! GB, on the counter, utilise the skills of Hemp and Weir before Daly runs off the shoulder. But she has erred marginally offside before taking a very nice shot that Micah at full stretch.
9 mins Catley brings down a ball with her knee on the left flank and swings her boot to get rid of it before Daly arrives but the latter’s challenge is late and she’s duly pulled up. Some passing around GB’s defensive line finishes with a fruitless attempt to find Kim Little.
7 mins Williamson is on the ball when Foord whips in a corner, clearing with a header that pops back out of their own third. But there is a sense the Brits are a little nervy. Australia are pressing high and it’s not allowing their opponents any real rhythm as yet.
5 mins Hemp appears to be the go-to for Team GB and she earns her side a free kick following a foul from Raso. It’s cleared well enough. Keira Walsh recycles with a shot that Micah gobbles up with little trouble.
3 mins Kerr is straight up in Ellie Roebuck’s grill in an early statement. As GB work the ball back up the field then lose possession and Australia hoick it long to little effect. Williamson picks it up and opts for a through ball, but Lauren Hemp is caught offside.
Peep! It's kick-off time!
Team GB have taken a knee as the Matildas stand arm in arm, and then the whistle blows.
Seven Nation Army is pumping and the teams are emerging from the tunnel. Kerr’s brow is furrowed as they line up for the anthems.
Some late reading on the Matildas, who have been a work in progress since Gustavsson took over from Ante Milicic.
Here’s a promising stat for Australians.
8 - Stephanie Catley (@TheMatildas) created eight scoring chances in the group stage at #Tokyo2020 - only one player made more in the women's tournament in this category (Lieke Martens - 10 for Netherlands). Opportunities.#Olympics #GBRvAUS #WeAreMatildas #7Olympics #AUS pic.twitter.com/c6cUSKjDZi
— OptaJason (@OptaJason) July 30, 2021
Don’t be fooled by the names on Team GB’s starting XI. Ellen White’s name is actually “Ellie” and Lucy Bronze is really “Linda”. It was good Eurosport had our backs the other day.
I’m eager to hear your score predictions? For me it could be relatively even, perhaps decided by a moment of brilliance or a costly error.
Some solid social media banter has been happening between two Chelsea teammates.
The XIs are in.
For Australia, Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso are back after injury scares and Aivi Luik also makes a return. Teagan Micah is again given the nod in goal over Lydia Williams.
STARTING XI for 🇦🇺
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 30, 2021
Here is how @TheMatildas line up against @TeamGB in the #Tokyo2020 Quarter Finals!
Kick off in 60 minutes.
📺 live and free on Seven and @7plus
#TokyoTogether | #Football | #GBRvAUS pic.twitter.com/THWlHnKxUq
After tinkering with her line-up for her side’s final group match, Riise has opted for perhaps her strongest squad. Fran Kirby is on the bench and may play her first minutes this tournament.
The @TeamGB team to start against Australia in the quarter-finals! 💪#TeamGB | #Tokyo2020 | #NationalLottery pic.twitter.com/82LWVlzkFW
— 90min (@90min_Football) July 30, 2021
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Preamble
Knockout results of tournaments past have a tendency to resurface at every subsequent event. Each World Cup or Olympics we media types trot out statistics about how a national team fell short or how deep they progressed into the sudden-death rounds. How much energy the actual players devote to said memories is, I suppose, individual. But for tradition’s sake, let’s go there.
At the Olympics, neither of these sides have made it past the last eight. Team GB, in their only other Olympics appearance, were knocked out of their home Games by Canada in the quarter-finals. Australia reached the quarters at Athens 2004 and Rio 2016, the latter being a controversial penalty-shootout loss to host nation Brazil. And thus! One will make history here and the other will not.
Hege Riise’s Team GB topped Group E, are unbeaten and have conceded a single goal (against Canada). Whether the armour is pierced a second time may depend on Sam Kerr, the Matildas captain and striker responsible for three of Australia’s four group-stage goals. But Chelsea’s Women’s Super League golden boot will not be the only world-class forward on the pitch at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium. Manchester City’s Ellen White is in formidable form and has three goals of her own for Great Britain. The question on everyone’s lips is whether Matildsas manager Tony Gustavsson opts for a back three or back four, having changed it up against the US and got away with a stalemate against the world No 1s.
The Matildas qualified as one of the two best third-place teams, but that is not necessarily reflective of some of the football they have played in a tough group featuring the US and Sweden. The winner of this match will face either Sweden or Japan on Monday. Strap yourselves in!
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