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Sam Kerrs brilliance underscores Australias advantage over Football Ferns

Saturday, April 15 2023

While New Zealand continued a winless streak overnight, their fellow hosts of this year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup ended England’s remarkable undefeated run. With three months left until the tournament begins, the Football Ferns and Australia are on vastly different paths.

As teams go through their final preparations during the last official international window, the Football Ferns again looked well behind co-hosts Australia.

England, who are among the tournament favourites, were upset by the Matildas in a result that gives fans a taste of the type of matches and surprising scorelines they might see in July.

The Lionesses, ranked fourth in the world, won the European Championship in 2022, but lost 2-0 to the 10th-ranked Matildas in Brentford, west London, this morning. The result ended England’s 30-game unbeaten streak.

Australia’s win contrasts with 25th-ranked New Zealand, who fell 3-0 to 42nd-ranked Nigeria.

Matildas skipper and Chelsea FC forward Sam Kerr was unsurprisingly the key player in London.

She opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, which the Guardian said was “completely against the run of play”. England captain Leah Williamson sent a too-short pass to goalkeeper Mary Earps, who couldn’t get there before Kerr. The Australian sent the ball over Earps and into the net.

She assisted the second goal, also on the counterattack, charging down the right in the 67th minute before sending in a cross for Charlotte Grant, who headed it in.

Although England had the majority of the possession, they couldn’t find the net.

The Football Ferns’ defeat to Nigeria marked the 10th consecutive match in which they haven’t won. They have scored only once in their last seven.

Norway, ranked 12th, who will play New Zealand in the tournament opener, drew 3-3 with world No 3 Sweden.

Meanwhile, Switzerland (20th) – also in Group A – fell 2-1 to Iceland (14th), with whom New Zealand drew on Saturday. The Swiss result offered something positive the Kiwis can take away from this tour as they turn their focus to making history by advancing out of the World Cup group stage for the first time in July.