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The Australian Women's Soccer Team (the Qantas Matildas) have qualified for this year's FIFA Women's World Cup following their 2-0 victory over rivals New Zealand tonight in Canberra, the last match of the week-long OFC Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament. The Women's World Cup to be held in China, 23 September to 11 October 2003, will be Australia's third consecutive appearance at the sport's flagship event, having competed in both 1995 in Sweden and 1999 in the USA. Australia becomes the eleventh team to confirm its inclusion in the lineup for the sixteen-nation Women's World Cup. China as hosts receive an automatic berth, whilst those to have already qualified through their Confederation's qualifying process are Germany, Norway, Sweden, Russia, France, USA, Canada, Nigeria, and Ghana. A total of 99 countries around the world have or will compete in the qualification stages of this Women's World Cup. As expected, the passionate New Zealanders put up a tough battle in the do-or-die match. As the game wore on, the Qantas Matildas settled and started to control the play, but the threat of the Kiwi presence was never too far away as they pressured the favourites throughout. The home side entered the match without captain and Australia's most experienced player Cheryl Salisbury in the heart of the defence through a calf strain, whilst striker Kelly Golebiowski was also absent with a leg injury. New Zealand too had key central defender Teresa McCahill last just the opening 35 minutes of the game, suffering a virus. After a nervous opening stanza, it was midfielder Joanne Peters who gave Australia the lead and sparked the game to life midway through the first half. Danielle Small was fouled deep in Australia's attacking half but the referee played the advantage, allowing Peters to run onto the ball and surge towards goal. After beating a couple of defenders in the box, she scuffed her shot from 12 metres which seemed to deceive the goalkeeper Yvonne Vale and the ball found its way over the line to the delight of the 2,000-plus crowd. New Zealand's best chance came three minutes later, Nicola Smith's long range effort only just flying over the bar. Australia's single goal remained the scoreline at the halftime break. Small doubled the lead three minutes into the second half with a thumping drive from 25 metres to the left of goal which sailed into the top right corner of goal, leaving the keeper with no chance. The Qantas Matildas put on their best period of play in the following 25 minutes with several chances and flowing combinations. Heather Garriock came closest, hitting the post in the 53rd minute with a curling strike, and soon after brilliantly turning two defenders before forcing a fantastic sprawling save by the legs of keeper Vale. A few errors then started to creep into the Australian game, before a resurgence with five minutes remaining. Gill Foster provided several inviting crosses from the right, but none was converted into a third goal. National Coach Adrian Santrac was delighted the longed for result had now been achieved. "Obviously I'm very pleased," he said. "This is something we've been planning for for some time and our goal was always to qualify for the World Cup. Tonight it was very tough, but our girls certainly responded to the challenge." In the earlier match, Papua New Guinea secured third place in the tournament with an exciting 5-2 victory over Samoa. The more experienced Papua New Guinea came to life after a slow start to lead by two at halftime. Lydia Banabas opened the account in the 27th minute with a drive from 10 metres, and Glenda Matthies doubled the lead 3 minutes later heading home a corner kick. Papua New Guinea's lead was stretched to three when Nakere Nombe tapped in a loose ball from the goalkeeper's parry six minutes after the restart. Number four came in the 71st minute via a Miriam Lanta long range chip. Samoa also put up a fine performance to finish with two goals of their own in the final 15 minutes, one each side of Banabas' second goal for Papua New Guinea. Leti Talai scored Samoa's first, beating two defenders and drilling the ball home, whilst Selesitina Peresia added another in the dying minutes. Following tonight's last match of the tournament, in addition to the trophy being presented to champions Australia the Fair Play Award was also presented, with Papua New Guinea the winners. Papua New Guinea emerged the team most deserving of recognition for their behaviour on and off the pitch in line with FIFA's ongoing commitment to Fair Play and making the game attractive to all, including the spectators. This award was ajudged by the referees following every match of the tournament. 2003 OFC WOMEN'S WORLD
CUP QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT MATCH DAY FIVE
FINAL POINTS TABLE :
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