Key events
Big fan of how every broadcast of a national team game played in Australia these days starts with a tourism advert for the city/state hosting it.
The State Governments bidding to host these games gotta get their money’s worth, I guess.
This series, of course, represents the final international window the Matildas will get before the best of Asia descends next March for the Women’s Asian Cup.
While Australia’s women have mostly played in mid-size stadiums in recent times – Hindmarsh is listed as having a 16,500 capacity, 15,000 of which are seated – Jake Snape detailed last week how organisers of that tournament feel vindicated for scheduling the Matildas in some of the country’s biggest stadia for next year’s tournament; Sarah Walsh, herself a former Matilda and now the chief operating officer for the Women’s Asian Cup declaring that the risk of scheduling the team in these large venues is “paying off”.
Walsh says that a major marketing campaign is planned in the coming weeks, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out in ticket sales for the games not involving the Matildas – organisers currently running a promotion offering a free junior ticket with every adult ticket purchased.
Though the Matildas remain a brand that mostly creates its own demand, convincing the residents of Western Sydney to buy a ticket to see North Korea face Uzbekistan, or the citizens of Perth to head out to watch Chinese Taipei against Vietnam, might be a tougher ask.
And in the A-League Women, we already have a case study in the halo surrounding Australia’s favourite football team not quite bathing others in the kind of light they’d be hoping for.
Australia XI
Six changes to the Matildas side that hammered New Zealand in Gosford.
Sam Kerr will make her first start home soil since returning from an ACL injury – her first start Down Under since November 2023 – while Teagan Micah comes in between the posts.
Alanna Kennedy returns after sitting out the first game through suspension and this probably looms as a big game for her. Clare Hunt, Tash Prior, Wini Heatley were already putting the squeeze on her place in the XI and now with Steph Catley increasingly kicking inside for both club and country that pressure will only become more significant.
As mentioned, it was a pretty comprehensive win for the Matildas in last week’s meeting between these two sides, with Amy Sayer, Hayley Raso, Ellie Carpenter, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Katrina Gorry netted in a comprehensive win.
Indeed, while it wasn’t a perfect performance by the Matildas – the Kiwis created a few half chances and didn’t exactly present the kind of defensive obstacle that they’ll face with any kind of regularity – it was probably their best performance yet in the short tenure of Joe Montemurro.
Here’s how Jo Khan saw everything in the minute-by-minute and here’s my match report to get you up to speed.
Preamble
Joey Lynch
Howdy all, you’ve arrived at the Guardian’s live coverage of the second fixture of this two-game international friendly series between Australia and New Zealand’s women, tonight emanating from Hindmarsh Stadium in Radelaide, South Australia.
Last I checked, my name remained Joey Lynch and I’ll be taking you through all the action from this evening’s clash, in which the Matildas will be looking to back up the 5-0 thumping they handed out in the first meeting between these two in Gosford last Friday and the Kiwis will be looking, if not to claim a first win in this fixture since 1994, to at least salvage some level of pride.
Kick-off in the City of Churches is at 8.00pm AC⚡DT, 8.30 AEDT, or 10.30pm NZDT if you’re following along from Aotearoa.
Line-ups soon!
#Australia #Zealand #international #womens #football #friendly #live #Matildas
