{"id":543751,"date":"2026-03-16T09:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T09:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/543751\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T09:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T09:27:09","slug":"matildas-duo-hayley-raso-and-steph-catley-fit-to-play-china-in-asian-cup-semifinal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/543751\/","title":{"rendered":"Matildas duo Hayley Raso and Steph Catley fit to play China in Asian Cup semifinal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Star Matildas duo Hayley Raso and Steph Catley have passed concussion tests and are available for tomorrow night&#8217;s Women&#8217;s Asian Cup semifinal against China in Perth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">But what role they will play remains to be seen, with Matildas coach Joe Montemurro tight-lipped about the formation of his line-up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Winger Raso has not played since being concussed in the 4-0 win over Iran on March 5, while Arsenal left back Catley sustained her concussion three days later in the 3-3 draw with South Korea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Both appeared at training today, with Montemurro confirming the duo had been given the green light to face China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;They&#8217;ve cleared all the relative protocols and are in the squad for tomorrow,&#8221; he told reporters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Bu Montemurro would not be drawn on their chances of playing China.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-03-13\/matildas-beat-north-korea-book-spot-asian-cup-semis-perth\/106453672\" data-component=\"FullBleedLink\" class=\"RelatedCard_link__rsgR9 FullBleedLink_root__lTw_U interactive_focusContext__yRhc_ interactive_defaults__AKxUU FullBleedLink_showVisited__g3Xvz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Matildas beat North Korea to make Asian Cup semis<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP RelatedCard_synopsis__cFwMW Typography_sizeMobile14__u7TGe Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Goals from Sam Kerr and Alanna Kennedy allow Australia to scrap to a 2-1 win over North Korea in Perth in a thrilling quarterfinal clash.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Wait and see,&#8221; a smiling Montemurro said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A win over China would secure Australia a spot in Saturday&#8217;s Asian Cup final against either South Korea or Japan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">It would also mark a perfect way to celebrate a special day for Emily van Egmond, who will become the most-capped player for the Matildas when she steps out for her 170th international.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Van Egmond equalled Clare Polkinghorne&#8217;s Matildas mark of 169 in the 2-1 quarterfinal win over North Korea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;I hate talking about myself,&#8221; van Egmond said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It&#8217;s obviously really special, it&#8217;s something I&#8217;m proud of. But to me the most important thing is to get the job done.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">China is aiming to snare a record 10th Asian Cup crown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Matildas have just won one title \u2014 in 2010 \u2014 and Montemurro is urging his players to back themselves with the ball following patchy displays so far this tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;We haven&#8217;t been probably brave enough to control the ball,&#8221; Montemurro said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;So obviously the focus has been on that. We&#8217;re playing a team that is very, very well structured, very well organised.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">China will be without Wang Shuang, who has been suspended for an accumulation of yellow cards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Star Matildas duo Hayley Raso and Steph Catley have passed concussion tests and are available for tomorrow night&#8217;s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[41432,64,63,512,596,144014,28526,44964,46,25906,13198,85,43245],"class_list":["post-543751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-asian-cup","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-china","tag-football","tag-hayley-raso","tag-joe-montemurro","tag-matildas","tag-perth","tag-semifinal","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-steph-catley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543751","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=543751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}