Matildas’ Japanese showdown

FOR Sam Kerr and the Matildas, there’s one positive to take away from their belowpar Asian Cup semi-final outing against Thailand. They won. They needed an injurytime equaliser and a penalty shootout against the lowlyranked Thais, but they won.

“We found a way,” she said.

“It was frustrating. When people start getting frustrated, myself included, that’s a tough way to play football.

“It’s two games in a row we’ve scored after the 80th minute. That’s not easy. The main thing is we’ve made the final for the third consecutive time.”

And now the Matildas are putting all their energy into Saturday morning’s final with Japan.

Kerr said any video analysis of the 2-2 (3-1) dogfight win was likely to be highly selective ahead of the final to ensure the mood stays positive. And why not? It is, after all, the highest honour open to the Matildas short of the World Cup and the Olympics.

“Any time you get to play in a final, everyone’s buzzing. Especially playing against Japan, one of the best teams in the world,” she said. “This is what we came here for.”

Kerr predicts another tight and tense affair.

“It’s another chapter in the rivalry,” she said. “We got the better of them in the Tournament of Nations, they got the better of us other times. This is a new game; none of those games will affect this one. Japan are such a good team that I think it will be super tight. I reckon one goal will be enough to win it.”