For the first,she cut inside to curl a shot inside the far post,before slipping between two defenders to make good substitute Emily van Egmond’s through ball. Post-match,Foord said the key to her irresistible form was that she had had an off-season for the first time in years and with it a chance to “miss the game”.
At the other end,Teagan Micah kept the Matildas’ first clean sheet since January.
The Matildas set out in their trademark high-tempo,hard-pressing way. But the Swedes with their more measured and precise method made the better chances in the first half-hour,and Gustavsson,honest to a fault,said his team could easily have been a goal down.
“The first goal in international football is massive,” Gustavsson said. Kerr scored,arriving at just the right moment to poke home Hayley Raso’s pass after 38 minutes,and the game changed for good. A change in formation fortified the change in mood,and the Matildas dominated the rest of the afternoon.