Needing to win, Australia crush scattered Canada to qualify for Women’s World Cup

Playing at home, the Australians came into the match under pressure because they weren’t in the Women’s World Cup qualifying positions, while the Canadians looked to ‘defend’ their place. However, Australia responded well to the pressure and defeated Canada.

The Matildas got the game off to a strong start and it didn’t take long to rock the Canadian nets. In the eighth minute, Raso took advantage of the opportunity on the edge of the box and kicked in to defeat Canadian Sheridan. The bid was canceled on the pitch, but the VAR validated the goal. Then, in the 33rd minute, Fowler scored again for Australia, but this time VAR identified an irregularity and called on referee Stephanie Frappart, who canceled the goal. Almost immediately after, Raso showed he hadn’t scored and took advantage of the box to score Australia’s second goal of the game.

Current Olympic champions, the Canadian team was not on the field and struggled to get their shots. This scenario repeated itself in the second leg, with Canada collapsing against Australia. In the 12th minute, the Australians extend with Fowler, who diverts as he can to declare 3-0 in favor of the co-organizers of the Women’s World Cup. On an ‘all or nothing’ basis, Canada ended up with ‘nothing’ and even conceded a final goal in added time.

In the 47th minute, the VAR called the referee to check for a possible penalty from Australia, which was confirmed. Catley converted the kick that made it 4-0, confirming Australia’s place in the knockout stages of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and resulting in the first elimination of a current Olympic champion in the group stage.