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News.com.au
3 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
Huge surprise as Matildas score by accident against Argentina
Kahli Johnson made her international debut one to remember, scoring the opening goal as the Matildas beat Argentina in Melbourne on Friday night. Australia's 21-year-old Sydneysider was their leading light during a slow-burn first half and duly broke the deadlock with a guided header after 38 minutes at Marvel Stadium. The Calgary attacker, who had been tracking for the A-League golden boot before her January switch to Canada's Northern Super League from Western United, had earmarked the maiden call-up as a learning opportunity. Instead, it was her delivering a lesson in flawless forward play. Interim head coach Tom Sermanni has described Johnson's play style as old-fashioned, and her textbook, guided header to net Charli Grant's pinpoint cross, having peeled off the opposition's defensive line, was a tried and tested route to goal. Less conventional, but worth just as much, was Australia's second 21 minutes from time. Everyone, including Argentina's second-choice goalkeeper Abigaíl Chaves, had lost interest in Kaitlyn Torpey's miscued cross, only for its unexpected trajectory to spiral into the far corner. It was obvious from Torpey's stunned expression that she did not intend for her fortuitous strike to float so perfectly into the net. 'Shock and surprise and delight for Kaitlin Torpey,' Network 10 commentator Teo Pellizzeri said. 'Almost apologetic, but the Matildas lead 2-0.' It's all right on the left Positive beginnings from two-time international Jamilla Rankin and new Matilda Johnson suggest a bright future. The latter delivered dangerously in the sixth minute for Holly McNamara, who swept over, before dispossessing Catalina Roggerone in an advanced area to cross 60 seconds later, only for there to be no teammate arriving. Johnson then displayed some tactical flexibility when picking up dangerous positions centrally, being perfectly placed to strike. Rankin, meanwhile, looked assured at left-back and was part of a solid, albeit rarely tested, rearguard action that earned goalkeeper Teagan Micah a third successive clean sheet. The shotstopper is in the shop window after two years light on consistent game time for Liverpool. UEFA Women's Champions League winners held back Although forecast, Arsenal's Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross being unused substitutes will have pained the younger portions of the 43,002-strong crowd, desperate to see their heroes. Especially as those in attendance had chosen the round ball over Collingwood-Hawthorn's AFL bout across town at the MCG. Tom Sermanni milestone His 150th game in charge of the Matildas could be his penultimate, with Melburnian Joe Montemurro hotly tipped to bid French giants Lyon farewell and take on his first national team gig. Coming next A rematch against Argentina - ranked 33rd in the world and participants at the last two Women's World Cups - takes place in Canberra on Monday night, and the group's less-established names, including Johnson, will be eager to clock more time in Tillies colours as the jostling for selection at next March's home AFC Asian Women's Cup begins to heat up. This opportunity, followed up by two more doubleheaders against Slovenia (38th) and Panama (57th) in Western Australia this winter, holds greater significance given the absence of multiple international heavyweights. Sam Kerr, Mary Fowler, Ellie Carpenter, Katrina Gorry, Hayley Raso, and Mackenzie Arnold, all unavailable for this window, boast 545 caps. Friday's starting XI totalled 438, with Emily Van Egmond and Alanna Kennedy accounting for 293 of these.
The Advertiser
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Advertiser
Debutant's goal helps Matildas past incensed Argentina
Debutant Kahli Johnson has shone as an inexperienced Matildas claimed a 2-0 win over Argentina, who were incensed by the game's refereeing, to ensure Tom Sermanni's 150th game at the helm proved a happy one. Johnson headed home a wonderful cross from Charli Grant in the 38th minute in front of 43,020 fans at Marvel Stadium. Kaitlyn Torpey added a second when she attempted to launch a cross into the area but shanked it and watched on in disbelief as it nestled in the top corner. "It was pretty surreal," she said. "Until that moment, I was kind of just focused on doing my job. I was just like running, get back post, watching the cross from Charli and when it hit the back of the net, it was pretty cool. "Obviously, my celebration. I don't think I believed what happened and I still don't think I have." Replays showed the attacker was offside but there is no VAR in friendlies and Johnson won't care. "I mean, if it doesn't get called, is it offside?" she quipped. Johnson, who had scored three goals in six games for Calgary Wild in Canada's Northern Super League, was among Australia's best, impressing with her deft footwork and strength on the ball. Australia doubled their lead in the 69th minute when Kaitlyn Torpey shanked a cross into the top corner. Interim boss Sermanni, who has coached the Matildas across three stints, appears likely to finish up after Monday night's second game in Canberra. "I've been extraordinarily lucky. I've had three spells with the team," he said. "And if you could pick three spells to have, I would have picked the three that I had." Joe Montemurro is widely expected to take on the full-time job after the current international window. Sermanni has consistently debuted players across his three tenures and relished in Johnson, 21, being the latest success story. "It still feels as good as ever," he said. "It feels great when see a young player coming into the team and you can get them on the field, and particularly, then get them on the field and start them and it makes it even better when you see how well Kahli played tonight." In rare post-match scenes after a friendly, Argentina coach German Portanova teed off on the referees, indicating Australia had received the rub of the green from Thai official Pansa Chaisanit. "The first goal is offside," Portanova said through an interpreter. "I know that this was a celebration of the Matildas. But we came here to compete, and we came here looking ahead to the Copa America and wanting to do our best. "But believe me when I say, when it was one against the other, (calls were made) in favour of Australia. "Trying to play with this style of refereeing does make me angry, very angry - when we just see these fouls against us over and over throughout the game, the referee highlighting things that our team has done that just simply haven't happened. "When these are happening and we see once again awarded to the other team, this is where we tend to lose confidence and we're not able to play our game. I honestly think that with a fairer referee, we would be there." Sermanni dismissed the suggestion things had gone Australia's way, bar the offside goal. The Matildas' starting line-up had just 438 combined caps heading into the game - with Emily van Egmond and Alanna Kennedy claiming 293 of them. Captain Steph Catley and Arsenal teammates Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross didn't play after arriving in camp on Wednesday night following their Women's Champions League triumph. Sam Kerr, Ellie Carpenter, Hayley Raso, Katrina Gorry and Mackenzie Arnold aren't in the current squad. But Australia still had 16 shots (six on target) to six, while Argentina didn't register a shot on target until the 80th minute. Debutant Kahli Johnson has shone as an inexperienced Matildas claimed a 2-0 win over Argentina, who were incensed by the game's refereeing, to ensure Tom Sermanni's 150th game at the helm proved a happy one. Johnson headed home a wonderful cross from Charli Grant in the 38th minute in front of 43,020 fans at Marvel Stadium. Kaitlyn Torpey added a second when she attempted to launch a cross into the area but shanked it and watched on in disbelief as it nestled in the top corner. "It was pretty surreal," she said. "Until that moment, I was kind of just focused on doing my job. I was just like running, get back post, watching the cross from Charli and when it hit the back of the net, it was pretty cool. "Obviously, my celebration. I don't think I believed what happened and I still don't think I have." Replays showed the attacker was offside but there is no VAR in friendlies and Johnson won't care. "I mean, if it doesn't get called, is it offside?" she quipped. Johnson, who had scored three goals in six games for Calgary Wild in Canada's Northern Super League, was among Australia's best, impressing with her deft footwork and strength on the ball. Australia doubled their lead in the 69th minute when Kaitlyn Torpey shanked a cross into the top corner. Interim boss Sermanni, who has coached the Matildas across three stints, appears likely to finish up after Monday night's second game in Canberra. "I've been extraordinarily lucky. I've had three spells with the team," he said. "And if you could pick three spells to have, I would have picked the three that I had." Joe Montemurro is widely expected to take on the full-time job after the current international window. Sermanni has consistently debuted players across his three tenures and relished in Johnson, 21, being the latest success story. "It still feels as good as ever," he said. "It feels great when see a young player coming into the team and you can get them on the field, and particularly, then get them on the field and start them and it makes it even better when you see how well Kahli played tonight." In rare post-match scenes after a friendly, Argentina coach German Portanova teed off on the referees, indicating Australia had received the rub of the green from Thai official Pansa Chaisanit. "The first goal is offside," Portanova said through an interpreter. "I know that this was a celebration of the Matildas. But we came here to compete, and we came here looking ahead to the Copa America and wanting to do our best. "But believe me when I say, when it was one against the other, (calls were made) in favour of Australia. "Trying to play with this style of refereeing does make me angry, very angry - when we just see these fouls against us over and over throughout the game, the referee highlighting things that our team has done that just simply haven't happened. "When these are happening and we see once again awarded to the other team, this is where we tend to lose confidence and we're not able to play our game. I honestly think that with a fairer referee, we would be there." Sermanni dismissed the suggestion things had gone Australia's way, bar the offside goal. The Matildas' starting line-up had just 438 combined caps heading into the game - with Emily van Egmond and Alanna Kennedy claiming 293 of them. Captain Steph Catley and Arsenal teammates Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross didn't play after arriving in camp on Wednesday night following their Women's Champions League triumph. Sam Kerr, Ellie Carpenter, Hayley Raso, Katrina Gorry and Mackenzie Arnold aren't in the current squad. But Australia still had 16 shots (six on target) to six, while Argentina didn't register a shot on target until the 80th minute. Debutant Kahli Johnson has shone as an inexperienced Matildas claimed a 2-0 win over Argentina, who were incensed by the game's refereeing, to ensure Tom Sermanni's 150th game at the helm proved a happy one. Johnson headed home a wonderful cross from Charli Grant in the 38th minute in front of 43,020 fans at Marvel Stadium. Kaitlyn Torpey added a second when she attempted to launch a cross into the area but shanked it and watched on in disbelief as it nestled in the top corner. "It was pretty surreal," she said. "Until that moment, I was kind of just focused on doing my job. I was just like running, get back post, watching the cross from Charli and when it hit the back of the net, it was pretty cool. "Obviously, my celebration. I don't think I believed what happened and I still don't think I have." Replays showed the attacker was offside but there is no VAR in friendlies and Johnson won't care. "I mean, if it doesn't get called, is it offside?" she quipped. Johnson, who had scored three goals in six games for Calgary Wild in Canada's Northern Super League, was among Australia's best, impressing with her deft footwork and strength on the ball. Australia doubled their lead in the 69th minute when Kaitlyn Torpey shanked a cross into the top corner. Interim boss Sermanni, who has coached the Matildas across three stints, appears likely to finish up after Monday night's second game in Canberra. "I've been extraordinarily lucky. I've had three spells with the team," he said. "And if you could pick three spells to have, I would have picked the three that I had." Joe Montemurro is widely expected to take on the full-time job after the current international window. Sermanni has consistently debuted players across his three tenures and relished in Johnson, 21, being the latest success story. "It still feels as good as ever," he said. "It feels great when see a young player coming into the team and you can get them on the field, and particularly, then get them on the field and start them and it makes it even better when you see how well Kahli played tonight." In rare post-match scenes after a friendly, Argentina coach German Portanova teed off on the referees, indicating Australia had received the rub of the green from Thai official Pansa Chaisanit. "The first goal is offside," Portanova said through an interpreter. "I know that this was a celebration of the Matildas. But we came here to compete, and we came here looking ahead to the Copa America and wanting to do our best. "But believe me when I say, when it was one against the other, (calls were made) in favour of Australia. "Trying to play with this style of refereeing does make me angry, very angry - when we just see these fouls against us over and over throughout the game, the referee highlighting things that our team has done that just simply haven't happened. "When these are happening and we see once again awarded to the other team, this is where we tend to lose confidence and we're not able to play our game. I honestly think that with a fairer referee, we would be there." Sermanni dismissed the suggestion things had gone Australia's way, bar the offside goal. The Matildas' starting line-up had just 438 combined caps heading into the game - with Emily van Egmond and Alanna Kennedy claiming 293 of them. Captain Steph Catley and Arsenal teammates Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross didn't play after arriving in camp on Wednesday night following their Women's Champions League triumph. Sam Kerr, Ellie Carpenter, Hayley Raso, Katrina Gorry and Mackenzie Arnold aren't in the current squad. But Australia still had 16 shots (six on target) to six, while Argentina didn't register a shot on target until the 80th minute.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Kahli Johnson header is fitting marker for Tom Sermanni in Matildas win
At Marvel Stadium - it felt rather appropriate, all things considered, that Tom Sermanni marked his 150th in charge of the Matildas by making Kahli Johnson the 237th player to represent Australia. As while the 2010 Asian Cup may have provided the 70-year-old with his crowning achievement, his is a more than three-decade legacy built upon the stories and achievements of those who he has given an opportunity. So many of the pathways that are found in the women's game Down Under wouldn't exist without his guidance, and of the current Golden Generation alone, the likes of Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, and Katrina Gorry were all given intentional debuts under his charge. So it all became even more fitting when Johnson headed home the 38th minute goal that kickstarted the Matildas to a 2-0 win over Argentina at Marvel on Friday evening, a game lacking in much of the way of fireworks but in which the hosts never looked in danger of falling. Kaitlyn Torpey put the result beyond doubt in the 69th minute, the winger's second international goal blessed by the footballing gods when her shanked attempt to send in a cross from the right floated right over the head of Abigaíl Chaves and inside the far post. Johnson, 21, took a leap into the unknown during the middle of the A-League Women season in moving from Western United, while right in the mix for the race for the Golden Boot, to newly launched Canadian competition the Northern Super League and has kicked on with three goals in six games for the Calgary Wild. She'd moved down to Melbourne from Sydney a few years prior to ease herself into living away from home and when the Wild came knocking with a transfer fee for her services, she felt ready. Now, having scored a goal every other game in Canada, she's become a senior international, with a goal under her belt to boot, and the latest in a long line of players whose stories cannot be told without Sermanni. The ball to find Johnson was delivered with pinpoint accuracy by Charli Grant, who galloped down the flank before sending in a perfectly weighted cross for her teammate — who replays showed may have strayed just into an offside position — to send across the face of Chaves. Though not all that much older than Johnson, the defender is something of a grizzled young vet in the current setup given she's still only 23-years-old but she's now in her fourth year in the national setup, with 34 appearances in green and gold under her belt. Probably helped by not needing to do much defending — Argentina would fail to register a shot on target until the 80th minute — the Spurs flanker was one of the Matildas best on the evening. So, too, was Johnson, who flashed intent early on when she won the ball on the left and whipped in crosses in the sixth and seventh minutes and who put a shot just wide in the 49th in search of a brace. Given the chance to start as the nine once more, clearly being positioned by Sermanni as the heir-apparent for Kerr, Holly McNamara showed off her determined, angry worth as well: sending a volleyed attempt from a Grant cross wide in the first half and fizzing an effort outside the post in the 61st. Clare Wheeler got in on the act, too, firing off a 72nd minute attempt that Chaves did incredibly well to get down and keep out. Indeed, with the likes of Kerr, Gorry, Ellie Carpenter, and Hayley Raso all absent from this squad and the Arsenal trio of Catley, Foord, and Kyra Cooney-Cross not risked after their late arrival into camp after winning the Champions League, Friday was an evening for the unheralded and rising members of the squad. It almost had to be, given that Football Australia has indicated a new coach will be coming in next month, rendering these games as something of an audition. But it was also a celebration of an underappreciated legend in Sermanni, delivered in fitting fashion.
