Matildas waltz in turn-up against Swedes

The Matildas’ preparations for a home World Cup next year received a mighty fillip at AAMI Park on Saturday when they thrashed No.2 ranked Sweden 4-0. It was only their second ever win over the Swedes – their semi-final conquerors in last year’s Tokyo Olympics – their biggest ever win against top five opposition and their third win in a row against all-comers as momentum builds.

Just as pleasing as the result for Australian soccer was the crowd figure: 22,065. They finished the match clapping along to choruses of Waltzing Matilda. Whether you saw this day’s three-sport jam in Melbourne as a carnival of women’s sport or a showdown between codes, FFA will be well pleased.

Pre-game, coach Tony Gustavsson said that in this friendly, the score did not matter so much as the way they played, and a clean sheet did not matter as long as Australia scored goals anyway. In the end, he got to have his cake and eat it, too.

There were goals aplenty: a classic striker’s touch from the talismanic Sam Kerr, one for substitute Mary Fowler from a deflection, but above all a brilliant brace from Caitin Foord, making five in three Matildas games for the Arsenal striker, who is in the form of her life.

Caitlin Foord celebrates after scoring a goal. Credit:Robert Cianflone, Getty

For the first, she cut inside to curl a shot inside the far post, before slipping between two defenders to make good substitute Emily van Egmond’s through ball. Post-match, Foord said the key to her irresistible form was that she had had an off-season for the first time in years and with it a chance to “miss the game”.

At the other end, Teagan Micah kept the Matildas’ first clean sheet since January.

The Matildas set out in their trademark high-tempo, hard-pressing way. But the Swedes with their more measured and precise method made the better chances in the first half-hour, and Gustavsson, honest to a fault, said his team could easily have been a goal down.

“The first goal in international football is massive,” Gustavsson said. Kerr scored, arriving at just the right moment to poke home Hayley Raso’s pass after 38 minutes, and the game changed for good. A change in formation fortified the change in mood, and the Matildas dominated the rest of the afternoon.