Australia registered a comprehensive victory over Canada in their final group stage match of the FIFA world cup 2023 campaign at the Melbourne Rectangular stadium. The game was a highly significant one for multiple teams in terms of deciding as to which two teams would progress to the Round Of 16 stage from the group.
Thanks to this majestic win, Australia shall now be heading into the last 16 along with Nigeria. Australia who bagged three extremely crucial points following their win over Canada finished the group stages with 6 points. Canada on the other hand crashed out of the tournament after succumbing to a heartbreaking defeat to Australia. The side finished 3rd in its group’s table with 4 points to its name.
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The game began with Australia starting to dominate right from the starting minutes. They did get the reward for their good work as they were able to open the scoring with just 9 minutes on the clock. Catley burst in through the left hand side and her low ball made its way into the path of Hayley raso who made no mistake to put her side in the lead. Australia continued their brilliant play in Canada’s half of play. They thought that had their second in the 37th minute when Fowler found the roof of the net, only for VAR to disallow it for being offside. Australia eventually scored a second shortly with Raso being the scorer again. A corner was swung in into the Canadian box which wasn’t dealt with properly by Sheridan. The ball bounced loose and was poked home by Raso.
Australia began the second half with equal intensity as they did in the first half. They kept figuring out methods to outplay the Canadian defence over and over again. They did succeed in the 58th minute as they brought up their third goal of the match. The work was done initially by Foord who did brilliantly well to get to the byline via great footwork, and cut it inside for Fowler who swept the ball in to make it 3-0. Australia continued their sheer domination in the remainder of the game too as Canada didn’t stand a chance. A fourth Australian goal was inches away when Fowler went for a left footed shot following a clearance. Her effort was kept out only by the upright. Australia eventually wrapped up the game with a fourth goal in the stoppage time. A penalty was awarded after Gorry was fouled in the box by Fleming. Catley confidently dispatched her spot kick to send Australia into the RO16.FT:- Australia 4-0 Canada.
