The Matilda’s’ most-capped player, and perhaps its most popular, Queensland’s Clare Polkinghorne, was farewelled by more than 30,000 Geelong football fans as they obliterated Chinese Taipei 6-nil on Saturday night.
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There may have been a new-look, fresh-faced Matilda’s outfit deprived of its biggest stars playing in Geelong for just the first time in seven years, but it didn’t deter 30,097 local punters turning out to the fixture at Kardinia Park where the ground’s traditional blue and white hoops were utterly replaced by a sea of green and gold, especially across the Players and Reg Hickey stands, which were near to bursting at the seams.
Facing a Chinese Taipei side it earlier trounced 3-1 on Wednesday night in Melbourne – ending the national team’s 16-straight sold-out games – it was Polkinghorne’s 169th and final international fixture, ending a career spanning almost 20 years that started when she was a 17-year-old in a friendly against China.
Improving on the Matilda’s’ 5-1 thrashing of China at Kardinia Park back in November of 2017, the home side outplayed the visitors 6-0 as they introduced two more debutants.
In a nice touch of symmetry, moments after veteran Polkinghorne left the field for the final time midway through the second term, 19-year-old number one Chloe Lincoln ran on to replace Mackenzie Arnold – who had been a bystander – and couldn’t contain her delight.
Laura Hughes also made a later appearance for her first outing at the level.
In an overall much more entertaining outing, on the eve of rounding out a tour of equally matched locals with their last match for 2024 Matilda’s would be able to look ahead to ‘25 with some hope after going 2-0 up in 11 minutes of play dominating possession.
There were changes, four of them, as interim coach Tom Sirianni had promised more changes from Wednesday night’s fixture and Brylee Henry and Leah Davidson made their starting debuts in midfield, while Chloe Logars went out with concussion.
And it took Melbourne City’s Davidson no time to settle into Kardinia Park with her first goal for the Matilda’s, nodding a pinpoint cross from Emily van Egmond into the left corner of the net after six minutes.
The Aussies had a number of decent opportunities, Wang Yu-Ting making a great save from a strong Tameka Yallop attempt on goal, and Emily Galenic failed to convert a dangerous Michelle Heyman cross into the goal mouth.
But there was an air of inevitability as the scoreline crept to in the favor of the visitors 2-0 after a deft left footer from Yallop found Davidson’s debut goal in the green and gold at the other end of the net.
To ruin an opening 45 a team would only describe as a nightmare, 21-year-old Ting Chia-Ying was taken off on a stretcher in tears with a suspected knee injury deeply into that half as a wave began to swell, such had fizz gone out of the game.
For her earlier miss, Galenic would make amends, head another sublime Yallop left footer, and it was 3-0 and essentially, game over.
It could have been double that by half time, with the game played often in the Matildas’ attacking half, and close to 70 per cent possession.
Galenic and Davidson were withdrawn at the interval as Remy Siemsen and Alex Chidiac entered the field.
Like Davidson before him, the former would find his way into the action early, feeding Heyman for a nice assist as the scoring continued to be distributed.
A Tash Prior header and a hammer left footer from Sharn Freier added to the visitors’ woes, a 6-0 rout sealing a brace of wins including a long overdue clean sheet following consecutive defeats to Brazil last week in the Sunshine State.
After the match, Yallop said Polkinghorne had had a “stellar career” and it was going to be strange not to have her in the squad looking ahead.
“She can never be replaced, and she’s left an amazing legacy,” Yallop said.
“I think there were a lot of things that were fun out there today, we played some good football.
“We didn’t take a backwards step which was crucial.”
Having only made her Tillies debut three nights prior in Melbourne, Leah Davidson kicked it up a notch with a first start for Matilda’s.
With cap 232, the 23-year-old got the fans to their feet within six minutes against Chinese Taipei with an intelligent header.
The Aussies dominated the opening minutes of the match, with the ball hardly leaving Chinese Taipei’s attacking half, creating half a dozen genuine scoring opportunities.
The half-time scoreline of 3-0 didn’t feel like it reflected a match that was predominantly played the Matildas way and the visitors hardly threatened going the other way.
Chloe Lincoln and Laura Hughes would also debut as the Matildas injected further fresh faces.
If the crowd at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday is anything to go by, the last seven years have been astonishing for the growth of women’s elite soccer.
Football Australia was hoping for up to 27,000 for the Matildas’ last match for the year at Kardinia Park, despite a galaxy of stars either unavailable, crocked or withdrawing due to mental fatigue.
And while it was well short of a blockbuster clash against a world team ranked 41 in the world it was more than four times what the previous attendance by FA figures, who watched the Tillies play Chinese back in November 2017, when 30,057 people turned out.
“It’s amazing atmosphere,” retired Matildas goalkeeper Lydia Williams said, as she was walking in pre-game.
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