They were quick, they were clinical, they were quality.
The Australian women’s football team, the Matildas, thrashed Vietnam 11-0 on Thursday night at Kogarah Oval in their farewell match before jetting off for the World Cup in Canada.
Officials had been expecting an attendance of about 2,000 people, but an official crowd of 4,277 braved the wind and at times torrential rain to give the players a memorable send-off.
The Matildas scored seven goals in the opening 21 minutes. The visitors were shell-shocked.
Michelle Heyman completed her hat-trick in the 31st minute - to make the score 8-0 - before the rain began to make conditions more difficult.
Captain Lisa De Vanna, in her 99th international, and Samantha Kerr both finished with two goals each while Katrina Gorry, Laura Alleway, Emily van Egmond and Caitlin Foord also found the net.
Sutherland’s Servet Uzunlar played 90 minutes at right back for Australia and provided the corners for Kerr and van Egmond’s goals.
Head coach Alen Stajcic said the result was a confidence boost for the team heading into the World Cup but warned Australia would still need to improve before facing heavyweights the US, Nigeria and Sweden in the ‘group of death’.
“The first 25 minutes was very good and very clinical, something we haven’t been in the past so that was really good to see that in a match,” he said.
“Considering we played this team 12 months ago and only beat them 2-0, I think it shows how far we’ve come and certainly we lost a bit of shape and structure after that seventh goal which I guess happens, but I was more concerned with the processes rather than the result at the end of the day."
“There was a lot of good stuff but for us to be a world class team we need to be consistent throughout 90 minutes and I thought we waned a little bit as the second half wore on.’’
Brighton-Le-Sands midfielder Teresa Polias was an unused substitute.
Scoreboard:
Matildas 11 (Gorry 7’, Heyman 12’/19’/31’, Alleway 14’, De Vanna 15’/61’, Kerr 18’/48’, van Egmond 21’, Foord 85’)
Vietnam 0
At Jubilee Oval, Kogarah
Crowd: 4,227
