The performance was far from perfect, but the two goals were as close as they come. And, given goals are the currency of this football caper, the Matildas are through to the Asian Cup final.
Their first decider of a major tournament since the 2018 Asian Cup. Within touching distance of a first major trophy since the 2010 Asian Cup. After Tuesday’s 2-1 win over reigning champions China defined by the physical contest as much as it was a technical one.
But amid all the fight and the fire, the 13 fouls (8-5 to China) and four yellow cards (3-1 to China) and what could have been a good deal more, Sam Kerr rose. Not from the ashes - this Matildas outing still possessed much life - but from some other world reserved for Sam Kerr.
For a player who can shift the tectonic plates of a match in an instant. In this case an angled finish more acute than a capital ‘K’. More acute, in fact, than a clothes hanger. Picture the smallest unit on a protractor, and you have what Kerr did to China’s goalkeeper Peng Shimeng in the 58th minute.
Well, first she skipped around Peng, one on one thanks to sharp supply from Australia’s other goalscorer, Caitlin Foord, from a move tracing back to Kerr, to Kaitlyn Torpey, to Katrina Gorry. Then Kerr hooked her left boot around her shot, with her body’s momentum already bound for the byline, and watched as it tucked neatly into the far corner.
So that was the winner that stopped the reigning champions at Optus Stadium. Stole their pursuit of a 10th Asian Cup trophy. But it was not the only moment that separated Joe Montemurro’s Australia from Ante Milicic’s China.
The other came much earlier, in the 17th minute, and from a star who has uncharacteristically toiled this tournament. It was Foord’s breakthrough. Her 40th international goal in the Arsenal forward’s strongest performance despite being the subject of some rather close defensive attention.
Really, this goal belonged as much to Mary Fowler and Ellie Carpenter as it did to Foord. Fowler, starting in her fourth consecutive match, fed Carpenter out wide, her subsequent run into the box rewarded with the return cross. Her cutback was as clever as Foord’s late run was discombobulating for the defenders still stunned by the finish even as she celebrated.
This was one-touch football from a Matildas side often guilty of too many touches. Of taking a split-second too long to pass, to make a decision that could break open China’s defence in the possession-based style Montemurro prefers them to play.
China, meanwhile, were more than happy to go long whenever they could. And why wouldn’t you when you’ve got Shao Ziqin and Wurigumula lurking up top? Nobody could beat Shao to a ball early on, and nobody could tell Wang Shuang was absent through suspension.
This was an open game, played in contrasting styles but on equal terms once Mackenzie Arnold was deemed to have denied Zhang Linyan a direct goal-scoring opportunity, before being sent the wrong way by Zhang’s resulting penalty.
That penalty could have come back to bite Australia had their defence not once again been sound - Clare Hunt was subbed off just after halftime and replaced by Wini Heatley, in a central defensive partnership with the returned Steph Catley.
Just as Wang Aifang’s error in judgment might have decided this fixture earlier had she been shown a red card for her nasty studs-up challenge on Gorry instead of a yellow. But that was not the moment. The moment was Kerr, and Kerr’s goal changed the game.