Reporting from Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne, Australia
There was one team that showed up to play at AAMI Park on Monday night and it wasn’t Canada. The Matildas had their backs up against the wall in a must-win situation and they turned up and delivered a 4-0 win. Australia will head to the Round of 16 and Canada will head home after being eliminated. Canada’s loss marks the first time that the defending Olympic champions have failed to get out of the group Stage at the following World Cup.
It was death by a thousand paper cuts as Australia was first class from start to finish. They were methodical, patient, and clinical in front of goal. While Canada struggled to complete a simple pass, Australia controlled the play and Canada was playing catch up all night.
“Heading into the game we couldn’t give up an early goal,” Christine Sinclair said postgame. “We knew they’d get momentum and energy from that. They scored and we weren’t able to recover from that. As the game went on, we pushed numbers forward and they just scored.”
