The Matildas have made a perfect start to their World Cup campaign on a famous night for Australian football at Sydney Olympic Park.
They defeated the Republic of Ireland 1-0 in their World Cup opener on home soil after losing captain Sam Kerr to a calf injury.
The Aussies produced a moment to remember when Steph Catley slotted a thundering second half penalty to give Australia a 1-0 win over Ireland in front of a rocking, record of crowd of 75,784 – the biggest ever crowd for a women’s football game in Australia.
Earlier Hannah Wilkinson scored the winner as co-hosts New Zealand sealed a first World Cup win courtesy of a 1-0 win against Norway in their Group A match at Eden Park. The hosts could have made the match comfortable late on but Ria Percival hit the post with an 89th-minute penalty.
Football Australia says that in excess of one million tickets have been sold for the 35 matches to be held in Australia (including 30 Group Stage matches, four knock-out matches across the country and the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ Final being held at Stadium Australia in Sydney on 20 August).
