Matildas rise to the occasion of record crowd with send-off win over France | Jack Snape | OneFootball

At the home of the Matildas, balloons have been tied to the front gate. The table has been set and streamers ring the backyard. The festivities are just about ready to kick off. And while it might have been France who were celebrating Bastille Day on Friday night, it was Mary Fowler who brought the punch.

Less than a week before their Women’s World Cup opener, the Matildas defeated a France team ranked five places above them thanks to Fowler’s goal midway through the second half. In an even contest, Australia made the most of their one clear-cut chance, while France whiffed on their openings.

But that’s a simplistic outline of a riveting clash electrified by the largest-ever home crowd for the Australian women’s football team. This was an occasion of significance, a final friendly before the World Cup gets under way, and a chance to celebrate for the record 50,629 fans inside Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium.

The Women’s World Cup is set to be the largest sporting event Australia has hosted since the 2000 Olympics. Fittingly, Sam Kerr’s team was addressed by Cathy Freeman during the week. A woman who delivered when the stakes couldn’t have been higher. Who sought out and embraced the pressure. Lighting the Olympic flame, donning the speed-suit and then delivering gold in the 400 metres at Stadium Australia 23 years ago was as glorious as it was audacious.

For the Matildas following the Freeman lead, it’s so far, so good. Against France they answered every question asked of them.

What about the pressure? After all, the Australian team haven’t always lived up to expectations. The Matildas tumbled out of the 2019 World Cup on penalties in the round of 16. The last time they played in front of a record home crowd, their defence conceded a goal within 30 seconds, against the USA in 2021, in a 3-0 defeat. A year later when heavily fancied at the Asian Cup, the Matildas went out meekly 1-0 to South Korea in the quarter-final.

To moderate the moment of Friday’s “send-off” fixture, Football Australia could have set up a clash against an easybeat. After all, a loss would have sent panic through the camp. But they didn’t.

Instead the governing body teed up a footballing powerhouse, the latest in a series of tough European opponents. A week ago, France dropped Australia’s first World Cup opponent Ireland, 3-0. The French side is football par excellence, from 187-centimetre defensive rock Wendie Renard to Eugenie Le Sommer and her 86 international goals. But by the end of the match, in a cauldron filled with 50,000 expectant fans, to the question of handling pressure the scoreboard blinked the answer.

What about the defence? Had injuries and inexperience cruelled the side’s central resistance? Before the game against France, anchor Alanna Kennedy hadn’t played a league match for her team, Manchester City, since January. Veteran Clare Polkinghorne had developed a chronic foot injury. Clare Hunt had tallied just five green and gold appearances. But on Friday night Kennedy enjoyed 78 minutes and formed an effective pairing with Hunt. Polkinghorne was reliable when she came on. The French were held scoreless.

Or the big one… Could Australia do much at all without star striker Sam Kerr? Within five minutes of the captain going off, the Matildas scored the only goal. And what a work of art it was, with Kyra Cooney-Cross and Hayley Raso weaving neatly down the right, before a sliding cross found Fowler who calmly took a touch then slid the ball into the net. More promisingly, the 20-year-old scorer – who had seen just 165 minutes of action for Manchester City this season – was crisp and confident for her entire second half shift, eager to get her hands dirty even in gloves.

Many of the fans on Friday were attending their first international football match. Despite the victory, they saw how the margins of success at this level can be small. Fewer than 10 minutes before Fowler’s goal, France should have had a penalty when Steph Catley crashed through the back of Le Sommer when contesting a cross. Then there were the clear-cut chances the visitors failed to convert in the first half.

But a win is a win, on the scoreboard and in spirit. And now the hosts’ momentum is building. “It’s nice to show it in front of a big crowd and get the crowd behind us before next week,” offered Kerr.

Kennedy said bring on the tournament: “I think we just really want to embrace this whole experience to really soak it up, and use the fans and everyone behind us to our benefit.”

The World Cup begins on Thursday. That attendance record? It won’t last a week.

Header image: [Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images]