City trio Lisa De Vanna, Laura Alleway and Steph Catley starred in the Matildas’ historic win against Japan in Osaka on the road to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
De Vanna also opened the scoring on the night with a wonderful looping header on the way to her side’s opening round 3-1 win in the Asian Qualifiers for Rio.
The City striker was elated with the result and the goal but with four matches to go in the tournament, De Vanna believes it’s only the beginning for the Matildas.
“It’s a great win. To do it in Japan and set the tone for the rest of the tournament, it’s fantastic,” De Vanna said.
“We really want to be in Rio and winning today is a statement to the Asian teams that we’re going to fight for that spot.
“To beat Japan is a great feeling and a good confidence booster but we still have four games left and anything can happen. We didn’t play the greatest football but we got the result and we just have to keep digging deep for the next four games.
“To have friends, family and fans having interest in the women’s game to send their support, it’s a big confidence boost. It’s nice to know that people back home are backing us and have the belief and confidence we can go all the way so that’s fantastic.
The Matildas’ busy Rio qualification schedule continues on Wednesday as they take on Vietnam, kick-off 6:35pm. All of the Matildas qualifiers will be live on 7mate.
Match Details
Westfield Matildas 3 (De Vanna 25’, Heyman 41’, Gorry 78’)
Japan 1 (Ogimi 45+2’)
Crowd: 4,988 @ Kincho Stadium, Osaka
Referee: Carina Vitulano (Italy)
Westfield Matildas starting line-up: 1.Lydia WILLIAMS (gk), 4.Clare POLKINGHORNE (c), 5.Laura ALLEWAY, 6.Chloe LOGARZO (9.Caitlin FOORD 65’), 7.Steph CATLEY, 8.Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 10.Emily VAN EGMOND, 11.Lisa DE VANNA (15.Emily GIELNIK 87’), 14.Alanna KENNEDY, 16.Michelle HEYMAN (17.Kyah SIMON 70’), 19.Katrina GORRY
Substitutes not used: 2.Ashleigh SYKES, 3.Caitlin COOPER, 12.Casey DUMONT (gk), 13.Tameka BUTT, 18.Mackenzie ARNOLD (gk), 20.Ellie CARPENTER
Yellow cards: Foord 90+3’
Red cards: Nil
Japan starting line-up: 12.Erina YAMANE (gk), 3.Azusa IWASHIMIZU, 4.Saki KUMAGAI, 5.Aya SAMESHIMA (16.Mana IWABUCHI 84’), 6.Mizuho SAKAGUCHI, 8.Aya MIYAMA (c), 9.Nahomi KAWASUMI (7.Yuri KAWAMURA 84’), 10.Yuki OGIMI, 11.Shinobu OHNO (20.Kumi YOKOYAMA 40’), 13.Saori ARIYOSHI, 14.Emi NAKAJIMA
Substitutes not used: 1.Miho FUKUMOTO (gk), 2.Yukari KINGA, 15.Megumi TAKASE, 17.Asuna TANAKA, 18.Ayaka YAMASHITA (gk), 19.Megumi KAMIONOBE
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
