Australian women’s football ends European drought with World Cup boost
Women’s World Cup co-hosts Australia secured their first away win over European opposition
since 2013 with a 3-1 victory over Denmark to recover some badly needed confidence in the
lead-up to next year’s global showpiece.
The Danes went ahead in the first minute of the friendly in Viborg on Tuesday but the
Matildas hit back with a Caitlin Foord brace and a wonder strike from Katrina Gorry in a
nine-minute burst in the second half.
The win followed Australia’s 4-1 victory over South Africa in London over the weekend,
easing the pressure on embattled coach Tony Gustavsson.
“Internally we really believed in it and I hope now externally, after two good wins, people
will see we are on the right trajectory going into World Cup 2023,” assistant coach Mel
Andreatta told Australian media.
“There’s been a lot of work on depth and we’re starting to see the fruits of it.”
Before the European tour, Australia, who will host the World Cup with New Zealand, had a
spell of four matches without a victory, including a 7-0 thumping away to Spain.
They got off to the worst possible start on Tuesday when Denmark’s Karen Holmgaard latched
onto a cross in the penalty area and thumped home with Matilda’s defense caught napping
after the kick-off.
Foord’s 66th-minute equalizer had a touch of fortune about it, with a fairly innocuous
left-foot shot taking a heavy deflection off a defender.
However, Gorry’s long-range thunderbolt eight minutes later was pure quality.
With the Danish defense in disarray, Foord finished superbly a minute later with her third
goal in two matches.
Gustavsson restored talismanic striker Sam Kerr to the starting side in a rejigged 4-4-2
formation after the Matildas beat South Africa with three up front.
Australia will hope to extend their winning run in home friendlies against Sweden and
Thailand next month.