Here are the quick hits from the Matildas’ quarterfinal clash with North Korea.<\/p>\n
1. Raso and Catley light up crowd from the sidelines<\/p>\n
The Matildas came into this quarterfinal without two major players in Hayley Raso and Steph Catley.<\/p>\n
Both Raso and Catley were forced out of the quarterfinal due to concussions, but were still in attendance for the match in Perth.<\/p>\n
Australia had barely taken the lead when the camera operator at the stadium managed to capture Raso and Catley sitting on the sidelines watching.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You’d have thought the Matildas had scored another goal by the way the crowd lit up as the camera remained on the pair.<\/p>\n
Raso and Catley did their best to remain nonchalant but eventually were forced to acknowledge all the attention.<\/p>\n
2. Arnold keeps the Matildas afloat\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mackenzie Arnold was one of the heroes of Australia’s 2023 World Cup campaign due to her excellent work between the sticks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If anyone had forgotten just how good Arnold’s glovework is, she offered fans an ample reminder in this match, finishing it with nine saves.<\/p>\n
After Alanna Kennedy gave the Matildas an early lead, North Korea turned up the intensity and pinned their opponents into their own half of the ground.<\/p>\n
The North Koreans had 58 per cent possession in the first half and lashed shot after shot at the Matildas goal, only to be thwarted time and time again.<\/p>\n
Arnold’s best save of the first half was a diving stop to her right after a brilliant header from North Korea’s striker Kyong-Yong Kim, and she bettered that in the second half by thwarting a long-range effort from North Korea’s captain An Kuk Hyang.<\/p>\n
3. Clinical finishing proves the difference![\"Alanna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2636a3342ef5285a1c59138abd764aee.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Alanna Kennedy continued her scintillating Asian Cup form by scoring early for the Matildas with a left-footed shot from the edge of the box. (Getty Images: Paul Kane)<\/p>\n
The Matildas are so often criticised for their wastefulness in front of goal, but this quarterfinal was the exact opposite of the usual script.<\/p>\n
Australia managed just two shots on target for the match, and both shots ended up in the back of the net with Alanna Kennedy and Sam Kerr the goalscorers.<\/p>\n
North Norea will look back at the statsheet and wonder how they didn’t come away with the win after dominating in every regard.<\/p>\n
They finished the match with 62 per cent possession to Australia’s 38 and had a total of 21 shots (10 on target) to Australia’s four total shots.<\/p>\n
North Korea also had nine corners to Australia’s one but couldn’t quite make their territorial dominance count.<\/p>\n
4. Wheeler is left bleeding after elbow![\"Clare](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/73327824915ecd50a856b9bd68c53597.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Clare Wheeler was left with blood streaming from her face late in the second half as the Matildas defended grimly. (Getty Images: Paul Kane)<\/p>\n
Australian players gathered around the referee pleading for a red card after Claire Wheeler was left bleeding in the 85th minute.<\/p>\n
Wheeler, who was forced to defend for her life for much of the match, was contesting a header when she was inadvertently elbowed on the top of her eye by Myong Yu-Jong.<\/p>\n
The referee instead showed a yellow, which was in the end a fair result given Yu-Jong and Wheeler both had their eyes squarely on the ball when contact was made.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wheeler was able to stay on the field after receiving some running repairs and finished the match with her head bandaged up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The yellow card meant Yu-Jong would have missed the semifinal, not that it mattered in the end with North Korea eliminated.<\/p>\n
5. North Korea’s famed ‘dark arts’ arrive too late![\"Mackenzie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/e43af435d0256b3466eaa7c07329b2f6.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Nothing could faze Mackenzie Arnold (right), not even a late dose of North Korea’s famed ‘dark arts’. (Getty Images: Paul Kane)<\/p>\n
Much of the lead-up to this quarterfinal centred around North Korea and their notorious “dark arts”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The North Koreans are known for being extremely tough opponents to play against due to their willingness to do just about anything to win.<\/p>\n
The shenanigans were relatively minimal in this one aside from a dummied kick-off, but sparked up in injury time as North Korea chased a winner.<\/p>\n
After making her eighth save of the match, Mackenzie Arnold led the ball stay idle for a little bit, eating up some valuable seconds before picking it up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wanting to rush her into it, North Korea’s Kim Kyong-yong charged at her, clattering into the Australian goalkeeper who was left floored.<\/p>\n
Kyong-yong received a stern talking-to from the officials, but avoided any sanctions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mackenzie Arnold turns into a brick wall as Sam Kerr and Alanna Kennedy’s ruthlessness saves Australia. Get the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,596,44964,266568,5808,46,73708,13198,85,256521],"class_list":["post-538861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-matildas","tag-matildas-vs-north-korea","tag-north-korea","tag-perth","tag-quick-hits","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-womens-asian-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538861","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=538861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}