Only the ‘hairy hand of God’ can stop Carlton riding this winter wave of hot form all the way to finalsWith scores level, light rain falling, and the sporting nation’s collective tachycardia finally easing post-Matildas, Patrick Cripps licked and rubbed his palms, surveyed his centre square kingdom and went to work. In the space of 45 seconds, he twice pushed off Christian Petracca, twice found Paddy Dow by hand and twice set up Carlton goals. A few minutes later, he eschewed the deep dump, lowered his eyes and feathered a ball to Charlie Curnow, who converted from long range.Cripps has played better quarters. He’s played quarters where he’s put the entire team on his back. He’s played quarters where he’s...
With history to be made a group of young players showed nerves of steel in the shootout to clinch a spot in the semi-finalPenalty shootouts are fastidiously prepared long before they arrive. Every player picks their target, hammering in practice shots again and again until the precise movement is etched into their muscle fibres. But with her name 10th on the list of 11 Matildas penalty-takers, Cortnee Vine did not really think she would have to step up.Yet after 19 penalty kicks and the shootout score at 6-6, Australia’s eyes turned to the 25-year-old as she dutifully made her way to the spot. Brow furrowed in focus, Vine’s calm belied the fact this was her first World Cup and first...
Quarter-final win over France was an occasion of soaring spectacle for Australia, and the stakes could not have been higher
Australia 0-0 France (7-6 on pens) | Player ratings | Reaction
“We’ve made history.” These are big words. But Matildas winger Hayley Raso is entitled to make them. She played 104 minutes in a titanic World Cup quarter-final struggle against a mighty French side. Then, after being substituted, had the best seat in the house for what those in Brisbane will surely describe as the greatest penalty shootout ever.“You saw the emotion and the scenes afterwards,” she said. “The feelings all around are just so high.” Continue reading...
The Australia coach has stayed true to his word by rewarding form regardless of age or status in his 33-man squad for the tournament in FranceRuthless and risky, maybe even slightly deranged. The Wallabies 2023 World Cup squad, announced on Thursday night for the “smash and grab” mission on rugby’s greatest prize starting next month in France, shows all the diverse moods of its maverick head coach Eddie Jones.Foremost is the ruthlessness. Six weeks after being named co-captain of Jones’s team, 125-Test talisman and spiritual leader Michael Hooper, 31, has been denied a farewell tour in France after failing to recover from a calf niggle. Similarly, flawed genius fly-half Quade Cooper, 35, has been cast back into the wilderness after...
There is no easy answer to the question of how to return one of the world’s best strikers to a cohesive team against France“I’m going to be honest,” offered coach Tony Gustavsson on Monday night, after the Matildas’ last-16 victory over Denmark was capped off with the return of captain Sam Kerr. “I could sit here and say it was easy, but it wasn’t. Those decisions are big.”The return of Kerr in the final stages of the second half in Sydney was a symbolic moment – the return of their “spiritual leader”following her calf injury on the eve of the tournament. Kerr began to warm up with her team holding a slender one-goal advantage; she was brought on after Hayley...