If I were to identify a theme that threaded through the Westfield Matildas' three group-stage games, it would be that those games were heart-stoppingly harder than they needed to be. That's something the team would agree with. That and the fact that their efforts were incredibly, inspiringly gutsy.

The team notched up quite a few records on its way to the quarter finals, not least that:

  • they opened their account with seven World Cup debutantes
  • they made Brazil look reasonably ordinary
  • Lisa De Vanna and Kyah Simon were named players of the match in the ones against Equatorial Guinea and Norway, respectively
  • Emily Van Egmond reportedly became the youngest Matilda to score in a Women's World Cup
  • De Vanna became the player to score the most goals as a substitute
  • they made the quarter finals for the second consecutive time
  • it is the first time they've won two matches at the World Cup
  • they made it through the group stage with a record (for them) six points.

The only thing I'd ask is that they achieve those with a little less, er, excitement.

Anyone who watched the Matildas hold and arguably school Brazil in football in the opening match of their World Cup campaign spent the entire match on a knife edge of excitement. Poor communication and clearance saw them undo some of their hard work in an instant, but they regrouped and threatened quite literally until the final whistle went. In fact, they almost scored from the corner they had in the seconds that preceded it, and we and the rest of the world came away raving about how brilliantly they played.

The Equatorial Guinea match had two particularly heart-stopping moments. After we'd gone one goal up eight minutes in and survived what has been dubbed The Hand of OMG, we conceded two goals under almost identical conditions to put ourselves under serious pressure. Collette McCallum's multiple it's-in-no-it's-hit-the-crossbar free kicks had us off our seats in near-celebration before realising we were so very close but no cigar.

Today we'd barely had time to rue the Norway goal when Kyah Simon equalised with the first of her two goals of the match, which saw a surge in adrenalin and heartbeats. Norway then gave us plenty of scares, including when their free kick was thwarted by the woodwork. Or, as one clever tweeter put it, thwarted by the thankfully thick coats of paint on the woodwork.

There were at least a couple of times during the matches when my heart both stopped and I felt as though I was going to have a wee vommie. I did more than once think: I'm not sure how much more I can take of this.

Turns out I'm not the first to think that, with those trusty Germans having not only thought the thought, but done the research around it for me (http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,532397,00.html). Munich hospitals were chockers during the 2006 World Cup, with heart attacks skyrocketing during close, tense encounters. Methinks the Matildas have put a few proud patriots' hearts under strain in these three games (the Twitter feed tells me so too), but nor would we have it any other way.

They meet Sweden on Sunday in the quarter finals, a team which demolished the USA tonight, to see the USA notch up a record they'd rather not have: the first game they've lost in the group stage.

Having watched the Swedish play, I can tell this quarter final is going to be another heart stopper. I also think the Matildas are more than up to the task of task of taking the Swedes and progressing to the semi finals. I said it a couple of blogs ago, but I think it's worth saying again: now would be a very good time to get on the bandwagon if you're not already aboard it. Go the Matildas!