{"id":512688,"date":"2026-03-01T22:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T22:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512688\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T22:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T22:54:12","slug":"womens-asian-cup-2026-kerr-makes-difference-fowlers-class-cameo-and-lincoln-cool-in-a-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512688\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Asian Cup 2026: Kerr makes difference, Fowler’s class cameo and Lincoln cool in a crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Kerr makes the difference, Mary Fowler has a class cameo and Chloe Lincoln is cool in an injury crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Get the latest:<\/p>\n

Stay across the all the action from the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup in Australia with ABC Sport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are the quick hits from the Matildas’ Asian Cup opener against the Philippines.<\/p>\n

1. Lincoln benefits from injury crisis\"A<\/p>\n

Chloe Lincoln did everything she had to in a solid performance. (Getty Images: James Worsfold)<\/p>\n

There must’ve been long, long odds on all three of the goalkeepers named in Joe Montemurro’s initial 26-player squad going down injured before a ball had been kicked at the 2026 Asian Cup.<\/p>\n

But after Teagan Micah’s withdrawal earlier in the week, Jada Whyman’s 11th-hour knee injury and Mackenzie Arnold’s inability to prove her fitness, that’s exactly where we found ourselves.<\/p>\n

Step up Chloe Lincoln.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old Brisbane Roar custodian was thrust into the squad when Micah left, but even she must have been doubtful about adding to her three caps at this month’s tournament.<\/p>\n

However, she was solid in her unlikely start in Perth.<\/p>\n

The lack of shots from the Filipinas helped, but whenever she was called upon, Lincoln handled things calmly.<\/p>\n

2. Kerr makes triumphant home return\"A<\/p>\n

Kerr gave Australia the perfect start in Perth. (Getty Images: Janelle St Pierre)<\/p>\n

It has been a tough few years for Sam Kerr.<\/p>\n

The superstar’s injury issues have been so pronounced, the Asian Cup opener was just her second game on Australian soil since 2023.<\/p>\n

But Kerr began this year’s tournament with the best fitness she’s had for years after being managed on her return to football with club side Chelsea.<\/p>\n

And the striker was on from the get-go in Perth, proving a nuisance to a stretched Philippines defence and finding space in the box with regularity.<\/p>\n

It took only 14 minutes for Kerr to remind the Australian public of what it had been missing, heading home after some slick build-up play from Clare Wheeler and Caitlin Foord.<\/p>\n

3. No fairytale return but class from Fowler<\/p>\n

There’s pretty much never a game for the Matildas where Kerr is not the centre of attention.<\/p>\n

But if there is someone else everyone is watching, it’s Mary Fowler.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mary Fowler gave the Matildas a lift when she came on for Emily van Egmond with a little more than 20 minutes left. (Getty Images: Paul Kane)<\/p>\n

The next-generation leader is still youngish at 23 but, like Kerr, she has been watching from the sidelines for quite a while after an ACL tear.<\/p>\n

She has had barely an hour of play in the Women’s Super League in England, and there had been questions around how much time the coach would give her.<\/p>\n

The crowd was getting a little edgy with the lead still at 1-0 when Fowler came on with a quarter of the game to go.<\/p>\n

The roar was immense at Perth Stadium, and Fowler did not disappoint. She looked fast and agile and gave the Matildas something in attack.<\/p>\n

No goals from her, but that 20-plus minutes on-field might be just as important for Australia as the result.<\/p>\n

4. Filipinas stand strong\"Two<\/p>\n

The Philippines defence hung tough against the Matildas. (AP: Gary Day)<\/p>\n

If anyone was expecting a repeat of the last time these two sides met \u2014 an 8-0 win for the Matildas in an Olympic qualifier \u2014 they were quickly disabused of the notion.<\/p>\n

Under coach Mark Torcaso, the Filipinas set up more defensively, and while their back line was under constant pressure, they hung tough.<\/p>\n

In particular, goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel was in excellent form between the sticks, and the defenders did everything they could to avoid giving the Matildas open shots.<\/p>\n

Group A is not an easy group, and goal difference could well come into play, with the top two from each of three groups and the two top third-placed sides going through to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

A loss is not great for the Filipinas, but they managed to frustrate the Matildas for much of the game. It was a big improvement for the visitors.<\/p>\n

5. More needed from Matildas, Montemurro\"An<\/p>\n

Joe Montemurro was happy with how his side controlled the game. (\u00a0AP: Gary Day)<\/p>\n

A win’s a win, and nothing less was enough for the Matildas on home soil.<\/p>\n

But there will be questions for coach Joe Montemurro and his side after that game.<\/p>\n

It was great to see Kerr get on the scoresheet, and it could easily have been two (or more) before halftime.<\/p>\n

Montemurro told Channel 10 after the game he was happy his side had controlled the game, saying he’d seen plenty of situations where that kind of dominance didn’t lead to three points.<\/p>\n

But the crowd had their moments of quiet in the second half when things weren’t quite working.<\/p>\n

And the Aussies will definitely want to sharpen their finishing when they face Iran next week, and certainly the decisive group game against South Korea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Kerr makes the difference, Mary Fowler has a class cameo and Chloe Lincoln is cool in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[41432,64,63,8069,596,28526,28533,44964,174826,277,73708,44965,13198,85,256521],"class_list":{"0":"post-512688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-asian-cup","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-five-quick-hits","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-joe-montemurro","14":"tag-mary-fowler","15":"tag-matildas","16":"tag-perth-stadium","17":"tag-philippines","18":"tag-quick-hits","19":"tag-sam-kerr","20":"tag-soccer","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-womens-asian-cup-2026"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}