This match was interesting well before kickoff for a number of reasons. For a start both teams had suffered 1-0 defeats in the opening rounds so neither side could afford anything less than a win without resorting to hoping for all sorts of amusing results in other games in order to qualify. More interesting still was the lingering allegations made by Ghana and Cameroon that Equatorial Guinea were fielding men in their side. As an example this explains it rather better than I could hope to. The telling aspect is that the "sisters" Salimata and Bilguisa Simpore who played in the African Championships of 2010 have been dropped from the squad. Moreover there are fewer native Guineans in the side than there are very recently naturalised Nigerians and Brazilians. Basically I'm saying that Equatorial Guinea are certainly looking for the torsional limits of the rules as they stand. They have apparently been removed from the Olympic qualification process due to nationality issues for Jade Boho Sayo... so perhaps they have found those limits.
In response to the remaining standout player, Anonman (unequivocally asserting her gender through her name), and the need to score coach Sermanni made several lineup changes to take advantage of the skill sets in the Australian squad which he felt best counter the threats from their opponents. In the absence of Barbieri it was Servet Uzunlar who gave the wink to the camera as it panned across the team during the anthem. McCallum was taking captaincy.
Equatorial Guinea had created a lot of chances against Norway and were a tad unlucky to lose and it was essentially the only real information the Australian side had on them not really having seen or known much of them prior to the tournament. This sole piece of information suggested that the Australian defence would be busy, but also that there might be reasonalble opportunities at the other end also.
In the early exchanges Australia held the ball well when they used rapid passes but as soon as they dwelt on the ball the Guineans pressured the possession holder and quite frequently deprived them of that possession.
Amusingly then it was a bit of pressure of Australia applied that brought about the first goal. As Khamis pressured a defender the hurried clearance only went as far as Sally Shipard who found van Egmond who, in turn, chipped the ball over the last 2 defenders and into the path of Garriock whose stinging shot could only be parried by Miriam and the ball fell invitingly to Khamis who had no trouble slamming the ball into the net for the early lead.
A Dulcia foul on the lively Samantha Kerr in the 15th minute gave McCallum a chance to find her free kick range. In the end it was too far and the wall blocked the shot but the ensuing play saw Australia pass the ball well and work it through to the left flank with a pass from McCallum to Garriock, an early cross was met by Khamis who clipped the ball towards goal and the ball bounced off the near post back into play.
That's when things got strange.
Bruna, the closest defender facing goal and the ball coming back to her... just caught the ball. Held it in her hands... not some Thierry sneaky hand ball to guide it but a catch and hold. Sam Kerr who was following up and Khamis immediately turn to the referee full expecting a whistle and a card of some sort. While the appeals were going the action stops Bruna drops the ball and Miriam picks it up and boots it forward. All while referee Gaal waves play on. It was surreal. the 4th official Karen Espelund later apologised at the post-match media conference, saying: "We all know that there was an incident. We have spoken to the referee. She said that she's very sorry for not seeing such a clear handball."
Which is just fine and dandy but this significantly affected the match and should *never* have happened.
There are several parallels here. One concerns the Womens U20's at the very same stadium where the semi final between South Korea and Germany saw a penalty awarded for a Popp shot that came off the goalframe and looped up and a defender, while standing in the field of play, just caught it. At least she was very near the line and possibly disoriented but the referee and Australian assistant referees (Flynn and Ho) had no problem seeing what happened.
The rapid play on that the Guinean keeper engaged in also had a touch of the Neuer from the 2010 World Cup incident where the English had a shot cross the line but Lampard's celebrations didn't get the Referee's endorsement and Neuer quickly played on to capitalise on the fact that you can't really have a TV replay and if you deny the referee the time to make a decision you don't want made... well.
Finally the Thierry play against the Irish in the qualification matah for the same event was also a blatant handball and led to an additional official in European matches to catch such infringements... such an official surely would have seen this.
Even if the defender believed the whistle had gone the fact that play continued completely negates that train of thought. If the referee thought the ball had gone behind the line there should have been a placekick restart, which didn't happen. It was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
In the final analysis the result was Australia won but surely this is a pathetic example of refereeing. Worse than Neuer, worse then Henri.
In any case the match continued.
Australia perhaps a little preoccupied with those events, or Equatorial Guinea emboldened by having got away with it, ended up facing a period of pressure from Guinea and Anonman managed a few shots off target in the ensuing minutes of play.
One of those occasions, after 20 minutes of play, saw Uzunlar dwell a little too long on the ball facing her own goal and Anonman bustled through, pinched the ball and neatly sidestepped the keeper who dove for the fakeout shot before sidefooting into the empty net. It was a beautiful finish, but a deflating outcome for the Australians.
Chances at goal were relatively even, Australia came close with a header from a McCallum free kick which ended up just over the bar, Anonman a constant threat at the other end. However the overall possession was certainly in favour of the Australians, something borne out by those stats FIFA likes to publish.
That pressure was starting to tell with Anonman getting a yellow card just before the break for remonstrating with the referee on a free kick decision that was perhaps more 50-50 than anything. The yellow card possibly also influenced by a blatant push in the back on Kellond Knight which earned the referee a wagging finger in the face from the Guinean captain.
Two minutes later as Khamis was breaking on goal she was held back by Dorine, the latter lucky to evade a card of any colour, offering a prime position for McCallum to take a free kick. The shot cleared the wall, evaded the keeper and was prevented from being a spectacular goal by the crossbar which made a satisfying "thunk" as it resisted the force of the ball and sent it back to a scrambling defence.
Sitting at 1-1 at halftime it was time to wrest this match back and to that end Lisa de Vanna came on for Sally Shipard, the latter having copped a kick in the back of her leg just before the break, in order to inject some pace and greater attacking threat.
Within 30 seconds of the start de Vanna was breaking down the touchline and crudely impeded by Ana Christina. There was no attempt to play the ball, and the yellow card was duly produced but Lisa is a fiery character. Her mercurial talent also has an ugly side and I don't believe you can have one without the other. In the pre-tournament selection camps she was briefly suspended for failing to comply with the rules... all this is to say that when de Vanna got up someone was going to pay. The referee instructed de Vanna to retreat the sideline where she performed an impressive impersonation of a caged Tiger. Not the cute and cuddly kind either... this Tiger had "I-want-to-taste-human-flesh" eyes. When your own captain is pleading with you to calm down you know it's on.
The only reason there wasn't a fatality on the field that day is that within minutes Colthorpe played the ball forward into the run of Khamis who caught the ball just before it ran out for a goal kick and hooked it back in front of goal where de Vanna had an airswing at the ball but the unmarked van Egmond was following in to pound the ball into the net for a lead that was never headed from that point. Australia should be glad the referee saw it.
Kellond-Knight was looking to extend the lead further with a left foot piledriver that somehow managed to stay out and the following play saw an Equatorial Guinea player go down but McCallum pumped the ball long into the penalty area where de Vanna was quickest to react and ran onto the ball and poked it in at the near post with the keeper jumping for what I expect she thought was going to be a lob. 50 minutes gone, 3-1 up. Australia were finally in control but Diala, the stricken player, had to be stretchered off before the resumption of play. At the very least she made it look good.
After 57 minutes Adriana came on for Chinasa in an attempt to break the rhythm of the Australians who at this stage basically looked like they might score 5.
Having failed to get attention when down for the goal Diala, getting some arm contact in the face went down and started the most theatrical writhing on the ground I've seen if not ever then at least for a long time. It looked like she was being given electroshock therapy as she lay on the ground and clutched her face to prevent the bulk of it from flying out and raining on the ground like some ghoulish nightmare. At least I think that's the look she was aiming for.
The contact was there and deserving of a free kick but she was aiming for a black card, a red (it was Garriock's arm) just wasn't enough. Thankfully the edict to play on in these matches has worked well and this kind of shenanigans wasn't going to fool the ref... other shenanigans, well I will eventually let go I'm sure... but not yet.
Sinforosa's introduction to the game after 65 minutes suggested coach Frigerio was still looking for the balance that might bring his charges back into contention and they were doing enough running to suggest the mere presence of fresh legs would be a help. I suspect Sermanni thought the same as Allen came on for Kerr, the latter having played but not quite able to make her mark on the game.
No such trouble for Anonman who continued her one woman crusade to drag her country to a win notably taking a shot on 70 minutes from an impossibly wide angle only to see her shot narrowly wide having eluded both defence and goalkeeper en route. It seems the shot may have brushed Williams' fingers as it flew by but the referee called for a goalkick... so clearly one of us is wrong.
Soon after Lisa de Vanna managed to get herself booked when complaining a bit too much about a foul on her at the edge of the box. The free kick was given though and again McCallum took the shot and but for a brush off the head of one of the players in the wall it would have flown into the top corner of the goal. The players were doing well to make all these chances, unfortunate not to convert more and lucky Anonman only scored one more goal.
McCallum hit the bar, this time from open play, on a not-quite-cross-not-quite-shot before being substituted for Polkinghorne. Sinforosa got a booking for clipping de Vanna and all the while the clock ticked down. It didn't really look like much was going to happen to change the game.
Whether it had anything to do with Bruna being replaced by Laetitia is hard to say but almost immediately afterwards Australia, as they passed the ball around on the backline, stumbled twice on the ball. The first stumble saw the ball passed back to Uzunlar and quick as a flash Anonman was on hand to induce a further stumble, was again through on goal and this time took a first time shot, this time with the right foot, and slotted it into the net to create a very uncomfortable final 7 minutes for the Matildas.
Actually with the 2 added minutes it was 9.