A 3-1 scoreline in the Matildas' favour might seem like a comfortable win, but it's actually nothing short of heroic. Particularly when you consider who scored — and almost scored — the goals.
More structured in their playing style, more compact in their defence, and fast on the counter-attack than the Vietnamese team the Matildas encountered some 48 hours ago, the highly-ranked Koreans were always going to be tough opponents. Add in some must-win desperation after their 0-0 draw against also-tough China in the first round, and the Koreans were going to be hungry.
Sure, the Matildas dominated possession and play, but the Koreans looked dangerous every time they got near the ball. They hit the crossbar an uncanny amount of times in the game against China and appeared hell bent on rectifying such millimetre margins against the Matildas. And was it just me, or did they seem to move at warp speed from intercepting the ball to suddenly being in the box and forcing the Matildas into desperate saves?
But credit to the gutsy performance of the Matildas, with injuries, returns from injuries, or the potential for injuries in post-goalscoring celebrations seeming to be the theme. Kim Carroll, who has fought hard to come back from a knee reconstruction, scooted in at the far post to give the Matildas the lead before Lisa de Vanna, who has herself come back from knee reconstructions, extended the lead some seven minutes later. Sam Kerr scored from a deflection when she defended a Korean player's attempted clearance in the box, and then celebrated with backflips and acrobatics that had those of us watching at home in both awe and terror.
Sarah Walsh, who was only cleared to play in the days leading up to the Asian Cup after having minor knee surgery, would have scored had it not been for the Korean goalkeeper's quick-kicking reflexes. Then defensive-wall Polkinghorne showed her fighting spirit when she refused to let a profusely bleeding nose get in the way of her and a goal. Literally. She ran straight back on from the bloody nose treatment to deliver a shot that missed the top left corner by the narrowest of margins.
Which is why I'm more impressed by the manner in which the Australians played than by the margin with which they won. As Australians, we expect our sporting teams to win. Because they more often than not do, we don't realise just how hard they've had to work, how much spirit and tenacity they've had to show, and just how huge their accomplishments are.
Korea were always going to be among the hard-to-beats of the Asian Cup and, when you combine that with the Matildas' back-of-their-minds pressure that they needed to perform well at the tournament in order to qualify for the 2011 World Cup, this was a make-or-break match.
The Matildas made it and, while they'll be up against it again on Sunday when they take on the also-hard-to-beat Chinese, it shouldn't go unnoticed just how well they've already performed and how much they've already achieved. My money's on the Matildas to show similar tenacity to take the Chinese.
