OLYMPIC GOAL AFTER CUP
THERE were tears of sadness, laughs, dancing and a sense of what might have been when the Matildas signed off its FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign frolicking in downtown Edmonton on Sunday.
Australia wound down its campaign after reigning world champion Japan knocked the Matildas out of the last eight with a goal three minutes from time just hours earlier at the Commonwealth Stadium.
For long serving Matildas like former captain Melissa Barbieri and current skipper Lisa de Vanna the unusually balmy night in Alberta was probably their unofficial farewell to the World Cup after the pair served the nation so brilliantly.
Barbieri celebrated four World Cups for the Matildas while for de Vanna this was her third tournament before the squad went separate ways on Monday.
Some will return to Australia while others like Elise Kellond- Knight and Laura Alleway stayed on in Canada with their families.
Kellond- Knight, 24, will tour Canada for about a week before making her mind up on her next move.
The skilful midfielder has been tabled a lucrative offer from a leading German Frauen- Bundesliga club.
“I have a few weeks to refocus it’s important to have some downtown and reflect on the tournament,’’ Kellond-Knight said.
“I can really step back and take a lot of positives from the World Cup.
“We’ve got a massive Olympic Games qualification campaign in February and we can’t dwell on what happened in Canada.
“I’ll spend the next week in Canada we’ll go to the Rocky Mountains, take a train, hire a car and go and swim in some glacial waters.
“But I haven’t made a decision about my playing future for the next six months to a year.
“I need to have a good think about it and decide what path I want to take in football.”
Kellond- Knight who won two player of the match awards and is in line to claim another jersey to accompany the 2011 FIFA All Stars reward said Australia had to tweak its game to stave off Japan’s unrelenting superiority on Sunday.
“I felt like we were building momentum in that second half,’’ she said.
“It’s just unfortunate to concede a goal from a set piece and it’s sad that a whole match can be determined from that one mistake.”