Final thoughts
That’s more than enough goals to send the Matildas back to the top of the group, ahead of China on goal difference. It sets up quite an enticing final fixture on Thursday night between the two, who will both be fighting tooth and nail to finish top and, we assume, avoid South Korea.
This was a funny game. Zero goals for 43 minutes. Then two goals in four minutes just before halftime, and another four in six midway through the second half. It sort of epitomises the fact we saw both sides of the Matildas tonight, and those second-half subs to bring on Kerr and Raso helped matters markedly.
If I’m going to dish out constructive criticism, which is my job, then Australia probably should have scored a few more based on their utter dominance of all key statistics. Some final-third decision-making was sorely lacking at times and there are still a few defensive questions there that may not get answered until the Matildas face higher-quality opposition. But overall a very happy night in Campbelltown. Thanks for joining me and look out for Sam Lewis’s analysis on these pages early tomorrow morning.
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Full-time: Thailand 0-6 Australia
94 min: The very last play is very nearly a seventh goal for Australia as Carpenter directs a cross towards Kerr’s head. It’s a dangerous head for any goalkeeper contemplating its next move. But, somehow, Tiffany does, getting a glove to the top-corner effort with a brilliant leaping save. Full time.
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93 min: Thailand 0-6 Australia: Silawan Intamee winds up for a long-range effort. And it looks worryingly on target for Mackenzie Arnold, before failing to dip quite enough and landing on the roof netting. That would have been some consolation.
91 min Thailand 0-6 Australia: Dear oh dear. Foord has offended the woodwork in some way tonight, because it has recuffed her yet again. Brenton Speed has coined it “a hat-trick of posters”. I’ll just leave that there.
90 min Thailand 0-6 Australia: Thailand are tiring, their initially compact, organised shape dispersing into singular navy specks. Good things Tiffany is still alert to the danger as Raso flicks in a cross-cum-shot.
87 min Thailand 0-6 Australia: Van Egmond takes another set piece that is not as successful or beautiful as her last, and a scramble ensues before the balls pops out in Thailand’s possession. Kanjana is by far Thailand’s most threatening player in attack. She’s a quick one. Blink and you’ll miss her.
82 min Thailand 0-6 Australia: Oooh, a card! The first of the evening. It’s Ainon Phancha who goes into the book for a challenge on Raso, who has a habit of running at players.
76 min Thailand 0-6 Australia: Foord, conversely, couldn’t stop scoring on Friday but just can’t seem to start on return to the scene of her heroics. She’s denied by the woodwork again. Meanwhile, Thailand have their first corner of the night but the Australian defence does not allow it to progress any further.
74 min Thailand 0-6 Australia: Simon’s job is, quite literally, done as she’s subbed off for Tameka Yallop. And I, quite literally, cannot type quickly enough to keep up with these goals. Could’ve spread them out over the 90 minutes, hey girls. Genuinely, though, this is fluid football and more like what we witnessed against Taiwan on Friday night. Milicic will be happy with this.
73 min Thailand 0-6 Australia: That’s three goals in four minutes for the Matildas, not to mention two assists from Kerr in 10 minutes. What a difference those substitutions have made. But the goal belongs to Simon. Van Egmond takes an excellent free-kick and Simon rises highest of all the congregated bodies to re-divert a header to her left with enough momentum to see it sail past Tiffany. That’s a brace, and this is the Kyah Simon of old, the one who sent the Matildas through to the 2015 World Cup quarter-finals.
GOAL!!!
71 min Thailand 0-5 Australia: Raso makes it five one minute later and finish is a belter - maybe her best in a green and gold shirt yet. Navy blue bodies trail in Kerr’s wake and she picks out the new Everton signing for her second goal in as many games.
GOAL!!!
70 min Thailand 0-4 Australia: Simon drifts forward on the right and plays in for Kerr at the far post. The Chelsea star’s first touch is lovely as she cuts back for van Egmond, and the City playmaker has her hat-trick. That No 10 role is suiting her to a tee.
GOAL!!!
67 min Thailand 0-3 Australia: Roestbakken, who has switched to left-back from her right-back role against Taiwan, overlaps Kerr down the left and crosses into the goalmouth where an unmarked Kyah Simon is ready - she’s been ready for some time now for a 25th international goal - and finishes with some unknown part of her abdomen/shoulder/hip but finishes all the same. And that moment of pure, joyful untidiness put Simon equal seventh on the Matildas’ all-time scoring chart.
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64 min Thailand 0-2 Australia: ARGY-BARGY! Foord is given a little shove from behind by Nutwadee Pram-nak as she dribbles to the byline.
63 min Thailand 0-2 Australia: EVE wants a hat-trick and doesn’t do things by halves. Her right boot up by her hip as she takes a swing on the volley that smacks into the crossbar. Had that tucked inside that would have been a peach! The rebound falls to Foord but she cannot convert.
61 min Thailand 0-2 Australia: DOUBLE SUBSTITUTION! As suspected, Kerr has her toes on the touchline and Raso is standing beside her to replace Gorry and Gielnik, the latter of whom was visibly tiring.
58 min Thailand 0-2 Australia: Gielnik is offside receiving a through ball from Gorry but she’s on in the next phase of play which amounts to little. Tell you what, Natthakarn, who denied Foord just before, has been a weapon for Thailand. She looks understandably tired.
55 min Thailand 0-2 Australia: Here’s a stat: Thailand have completed 77 passes to Australia’s 342. One of those is Simon’s inswinger with which Foord fails to connect. Maybe a composure. That said, I’m still rating her playing up top.
Here’s van Egmond’s second goal ICYMI!
Watch the moment @em_surf scored a second goal deep into first-half stoppage time! #THAvAUS
— Westfield Matildas (@TheMatildas) February 10, 2020
51 min Thailand 0-2 Australia: Six minutes into the second half and the Matildas are already four chances deep, one from Foord, an audacious air swing from McCormick and a shot from Gorry among the action. Tiffany is standing up firmly under the pressure, with four saves from her six shots faced.
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48 min Thailand 0-2 Australia: We’re back under way and no halftime changes from Milicic, though Kerr appears to be warming up. And it’s a more positive start for the Matildas as McCormick gets a head to a ball and forces Tiffany into action.
HT: That opening 45 minutes was a difficult one to watch in many ways. Too often disjointed and awkward and sometimes susceptible at the back, in a way perhaps reflecting the mass changes. Cue van Egmond’s two goals in four minutes. It was fitting reward for two-time assister Carpenter, who has been fleet-footed all night.
GOAL!!!
45+4 min Thailand 0-2 Australia: The referee allows first-half stoppage-time to continue well after the allotted and it turns out to be a blessing for hosts, as van Egmond stands unmarked at the top of the area for a pass before whipping forward to feed the ball out wide to Carpenter and continuing her run for a first-time finish. Last Friday’s assist queen has a brace. And it arrived via more link-up play from her City teammate Carpenter. It came after Foord was denied by the woodwork following a mazy run.
GOAL!!!
45 min: And it’s not goalless anymore. A nice Carpenter ball into the box but van Egmond’s volleyed side-footed finish is delicate and instinctive for her 19th international goal.
43 min: Geez, Gielnik can’t buy a goal. This time she has a cross at her fight and winds up from the top of the box but can’t bring it down inside the crossbar. Frustration is creeping into the Matildas’ game now. With 12 shots and 15 crosses to Thailand’s none, this contest really should not be goalless.
41 min: Kennedy’s international pedigree is shining through here as Thailand fly up the field on the counter and Kanjana Sung-Ngoen very nearly outsmarts her marker only for Kennedy to get the last laugh with a timely one-footed intervention.
38 min: Gielnik has cut inside, in a clear demonstration she can follow sideline instructions, but skews her finish marginally wide.
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34 min: Thailand embark on a rare foray forward and an error instigates the counter-attack the Matildas might need. Foord is in possession and Carpenter overlapping but is interrupted before she can receive by a brave Tiffany. Thailand’s goalkeeper has been brilliant so far, and the Matildas far from it. This is getting a bit Asian Cup-esque. Now poor Natthakarn has sandwiched the back post making a clearance and is receiving more medical treatment.
31 min: In similar vein, bodies are flying in all directions in a goal-mouth scramble. A ball off Kennedy’s back ricochets off two Thais before Foord launches herself in its general direction. Still, we have no goal.
28 min: Head clash! Kennedy and Natthakarn Chinwong collide in the air as they contest a corner and it’s the latter who comes off second best. Kennedy manages not to go down but is clutching her head nonetheless and both receive medical attention before play continues.
26 min: Gielnik is through in space via a Gorry through ball and she utilises her physicality to skirt inside a defender but is confronted by several other navy shirts before she’s even looked up at goal.
23 min: Carpenter was a standout at the World Cup and the 19-year-old is in vintage form again, whipping in another cross that Foord is ill-equipped to deal with. An opener could be around the corner but Thailand and their goalkeeper are holding firm for now.
20 min: McCormick finds Foord but she fluffs her first touch. Milicic is on the sideline and the broadcast mics pick up a “Hey Gielnik come inside after, not yet” as a high ball flies into the box, though Simon can’t time her strike. Now Carpenter delivers on a plate to van Egmond, who inexplicably sprays a volley wide. That was Australia’s best chance yet.
14 min: The Matildas are sitting on a cool 77 per cent possession but Thailand seem quite chilled off the ball as it stands, happy to sit back and wait for errors. And Australia will want to watch some of their passes because they aren’t all finding their desired destinations.
12 min: Van Egmond may have opened the scoring but for the offside flag, which is raised following a through ball from Roestbakken.
10 min: Gielnik wins the ball but the Bayern Munich forward leaves it for Gorry, who was heading in the wrong direction. Carpenter races in now for a lovely touch as Pikul Khueanpet slides in for a luckless tackle attempt while Foord but Tiffany Sornpao claims easily.
8 min: Australia have two successive corners. The first is taken short by van Egmond and Kennedy backheels to Simon inside the box but it’s a bit too much of a stretch. The second amounts to nothing. Melbourne City pair Carpenter and Simon are flying forward now, the former feeding to the latter for an underlapping one-two, but the cross is poor.
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5 min: And we’re under way at Campbelltown Stadium. Thailand have set up in compact fashion, in an attempt to shut down Australia’s attacking raids. Patience will be key in this game. And Kyah Simon has broken down the right but is unable to find van Egmond.
So after China’s 5-0 win over Taiwan this afternoon and some (rudimentary) mathematics the latest equation is this: the Matildas can return to the top the group with a win by four goals. Vietnam are looking like a prospective play-off opponent should they finish top come Thursday night.
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For all Thailand’s weaknesses, let’s not forget this is the team that took the Matildas to penalties in the 2018 Asian Cup. That performance was well, well below their best and required an injury-time equaliser and then some Arnold goalkeeping heroics to book a place in the final.
Milicic isn’t one to forget such things.
“It’s easy now to say that they’ve lost two - how are they going to approach it?” he said in Friday’s post-match press conference. “It’s a team that’s played at the World Cup. It’s a team that less than two years ago, took our side to a penalty shoot-out, that we drew with after 120 minutes. So we won’t be complacent against that kind of opposition.”
Kennedy’s reinsertion at centre-back alongside McCormick is an interesting one. This is the first time the pair have played together, and shows Milicic’s eagerness to use the less-challenging ties for experimentation.
Former Matildas defender Amy Duggan is on the Fox Sports pre-game show and is talking about the importance of the “unspoken language” between central defensive partners.
“Larns is a great player,” Duggan says. “But finding her a partner ... her and Laura Brock used to have a wonderful combination. That spot is up for grabs at the moment and there’s a lot of rotation through there. So it’s really important that Jenna and Alanna work together and talk a lot to make sure that combination really starts to set in. I think he’s playing Jenna and Karly because they’re two players only recently capped and only have a handful of games playing for Australia.”
Luik for me is an excellent inclusion in midfield. A calm, composed presence who has obviously impressed Milicic given her continued selection, including for last year’s World Cup.
Preamble
Hello, and welcome to live coverage of the Matildas’ second Olympic qualifying clash. And what a pleasure it is to return to the scene of Caitlin Foord’s hat-trick, Kyah Simon’s international resurrection, and the belated realisation that Sam Kerr is not the be all and end all of this national team. Behold Ante Milicic’s glorious goal-scoring breadth in Foord, Steph Catley, Hayley Raso, Katrina Gorry and, well, okay, Kerr did add one off the bench within three minutes in Friday night’s almost casual 7-0 job on Taiwan.
And thus, Australia are obvious favourites against Thailand, who have lost their first two games and conceded seven goals in the process. Win this one and they’ll seal a top-two finish in qualifying Group B, ensuring a home-and-away play-off next month from Group A for a ticket to Tokyod. Beat China on Thursday night at Bankwest Stadium and they will clinch top spot and avoid a likely match-up with a tough South Korea outfit. China will be the first real test, given they dealt with Thailand 6-1 on Friday and brushed aside Taiwan 5-0 in tonight’s first fixture.
In solid proof that much can happen over three days in football, Milicic has made six changes to his starting XI and nine months’ worth of water has poured into Sydney’s catchments, putting Campbelltown’s drainage system under more pressure than anyone in Emily van Egmond’s way on Friday night.
“To be fair, the ground at Campbelltown was really good considering the conditions,” said the midfielder and provider of three assists against Taiwan. “I think the rain the other night on the field was probably a good thing. I think it actually made the speed of the game a little bit quicker. It was just like wetting the pitch before any normal game. We have definitely played in worse conditions than what we experienced the other night.”
In terms of team changes, Ellie Carpenter, Aivi Luik, Alanna Kennedy (captain), Emily Gielnik, Mackenzie Arnold and Katrina Gorry are all in. They take the place of Clare Polkinghorne, Catley, Chloe Logarzo, Elise Kellond-Knight, Lydia Williams and Raso.
As ever, get in touch with any thoughts via Email or tweet @emmavkemp
STARTING XI | Here's how we line up tonight against Thailand!
— Westfield Matildas (@TheMatildas) February 10, 2020
⏰ Kick-off is 7:30pm AEDT.#THAvAUS #WeAreMatildas pic.twitter.com/nfqmXuAABo
