Emma Burke 
The Matildas celebrating in Perth during their semi-final against China. Photo Credit: Travis Hayto/Football Australia
Two incredible goals from Caitlin Foord and Sam Kerr have led the Matildas to a 2-1 victory over China, punching their ticket to Saturday’s Final of the Women’s Asian Cup.
“We scored two amazing goals,” coach Joe Montemurro said.
“Obviously the first one [was] very much to my liking, the second one was a bit of a transition moment but Sam [Kerr] [was] amazing to finish it there.”
The first goal was one of, if not, the best goal that the Matildas have scored during this tournament.
It was Katrina Gorry who found Mary Fowler in the centre of the park. Fowler played a truly excellent long ball to Ellie Carpenter, which Carpenter then held onto just long enough to play the next pass for Fowler to run back onto.
Fowler’s cut back came right across the penalty spot, where it was met by a running Caitlin Foord who’s first strike was the right one, sending the ball into the back of the net.
China found an equaliser not soon after, when striker Zhang Linyan was taken down in the box by Mackenzie Arnold and was awarded a penalty.
Zhang’s spot kick was executed perfectly, low and sending Arnold diving in the wrong direction.
Despite this, the game never felt like it was out of the Matildas’ reach.
“You could just feel the momentum of this team, you could feel the belief of this team, you could feel the belief of all 26 players that are involved,” said Montemurro post game.
The game winner came soon after half-time. Gorry played in Kaitlyn Torpey in the centre and Torpey did just enough to poke the ball through an approaching defender’s legs for Kerr to find.
Kerr played out a one-two with Foord, the release pass timed beautifully, and Kerr was in one-on-one with China’s keeper Peng Shimeng.
A simple touch took Kerr around the keeper and she scored the game’s winner on an incredibly tight angle.
“Not really sure how I got it in honestly,” Kerr said about the goal post-game, “I’ve scored a few goals like that before, maybe not that tight… so I felt pretty confident getting it in.”
From there the game was expertly managed by Montemurro and his coaching staff, which involved a substitution in the back line, taking off Clare Hunt and replacing her with Winonah Heatley.
“It was a tactical change that we felt we needed to make,” Montemurro said.
“They were pressing with a top four, and leaving a lot of space behind, we weren’t getting our distances right in the first pass to prepare the press and then to beat the press, and [Heatley] is very good at that.
“I think that’s where the game probably swung our way a little bit.”
Now, the Matildas have only one game between them and Asian Cup glory, where they will face the winners of tonight’s semi-final between Japan and South Korea.
“We’ve been so close so many times and just fallen short,” the game’s player of the match in Caitlin Foord said.
“We’ll give our everything to finally win a trophy together.”
During the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, The Dubcast, Round Ball Australia’s Women’s Football podcast, will have daily episodes discussing the days games and looking ahead to the next days matches. Listen on Spotify, Apple, or watch on YouTube.