Here are the quick hits from the Matildas’ 2-1 semifinal triumph over China.<\/p>\n
1. Foord thrives in a physical affair![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773770174_723_e96cc749a3c1398b74acc690f044d0f1.jpeg\")
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Foord opened the scoring brilliantly for Australia. (Getty Images: Paul Kane)<\/p>\n
It was a helter-skelter start to proceedings, with the teams trading both chances and heavy tackles early on at Perth Stadium.<\/p>\n
And at the heart of it all was Australia’s exhilarating, tenacious left-winger Caitlin Foord.<\/p>\n
Foord’s full-throttle style of play was right at home in such a physical affair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She made a number of bull-dozing runs through midfield and wasn’t afraid to get stuck into the Chinese back line, relishing every moment of the heavyweight clash.<\/p>\n
The attacker had played well throughout the tournament, despite not quite finding her range before today.<\/p>\n
But there was no doubt her shooting boots were on for the semifinal when she opened the scoring in the 17th minute, converting a deft Mary Fowler cut back.<\/p>\n
It was a wonderfully worked team goal and the 40th of Foord’s storied international career.<\/p>\n
2. Agony and ecstasy for Arnold![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/e2d98b71d9623aee52d5560a9eda98af.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Arnold was heavily involved in a frenetic first half at Perth Stadium. (Getty Images: Janelle St Pierre)<\/p>\n
After missing the start of the tournament through injury, Mackenzie Arnold has been typically reliable since returning to the team.<\/p>\n
She was the Matildas’ stand-out player in their touch-and-go quarterfinal victory over North Korea, making 11 saves and commanding her box with authority.<\/p>\n
And Australia’s minister of defence started the semifinal true to form, making a number of highly impressive stops against an adventurous Chinese attack, including a low dive to her left to thwart former Central Coast Mariner Wurigumula.<\/p>\n
But Australian hearts were in Australian mouths when Clare Hunt inadvertently played in Zhang Linyan on the edge of the penalty area.<\/p>\n
With only herself between Zhang and the goal, Arnold rushed out, went to ground and clipped the Chinese attacker.<\/p>\n
There was only minimal contact, but the referee pointed to the spot. And despite Arnold’s remonstrations, there would be no VAR reprieve.<\/p>\n
Zhang made no mistake with her penalty and the scores were level.<\/p>\n
3. Kerr gets her angles right![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773770175_513_b3b76d551d9535d260c75bb04099d6cf.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Kerr scored a brilliant goal to put Australia back in front. (Getty Images: Paul Kane)<\/p>\n
What do Pythagoras and Sam Kerr have in common?<\/p>\n
They both know their angles.<\/p>\n
The Matildas captain had been quiet at Perth Stadium, a peripheral figure in the first hour of football.<\/p>\n
But the hometown hero emerged from the shadows with some feeling to put the Matildas back in front.<\/p>\n
After using her body to brilliantly shield the ball from a Chinese challenge on halfway, she played the ball out wide and stormed towards the penalty area.<\/p>\n
Foord nudged through a perfectly weighted through ball, Kerr took it around Chinese goalkeeper Peng Shimeng, and somehow, from the most acute of angles, managed to roll it over the line.<\/p>\n
Perth Stadium was in raptures as the Matildas took the lead back.<\/p>\n
4. Battered and bruised Gorry stands tall![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2fe0054b63b7c1fefcf7d06b7f3af679.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Gorry stood tall at Perth Stadium. (Getty Images: Janelle St Pierre)<\/p>\n
It was a rough and tumble evening for all of the Australian players, but it seemed that Katrina Gorry was the Matilda to cop the heaviest of the challenges.<\/p>\n
“Mini” was at the heart of everything in the centre of the park, and her lion-hearted performance was a big reason for Australia’s progression.<\/p>\n
However, she may well have a few bruises to show for her semifinal efforts.<\/p>\n
The West Ham United midfielder was forced to the floor at numerous points throughout the evening, including after a very nasty first-half swipe from Wang Aifang.<\/p>\n
Wang escaped that incident with a rather orange yellow card, while Gorry was lucky to escape it without an injury.<\/p>\n
The challenges kept flying in on Australia’s midfield general, but she was inspirational all the way to her substitution deep into second-half stoppage time, winning countless tussles and running hard both with and without the ball.<\/p>\n
Although among the shortest players on the pitch, Gorry certainly stood tall in Perth.<\/p>\n
5. Torpey brilliant on her birthday as EVE makes history![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/97fe1e873f9f0e4243da049389273abe.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Torpey was exceptional on her 26th birthday. (Getty Images: Paul Kane)<\/p>\n
It was quite a 26th birthday for Kaitlyn Torpey.<\/p>\n
The left back only came into the Australian side after Steph Catley’s concussion in the final group game against South Korea, but has been immense ever since.<\/p>\n
Even Catley’s return couldn’t pry Torpey from the starting line-up, with the veteran slotting back into the team at centre back against China.<\/p>\n
And Torpey well and truly repaid Joe Montemurro’s faith on her special day, keeping tricky winger Zhang tellingly quiet, while instigating a number of probing attacks down the left.<\/p>\n
You’d imagine the Newcastle United player wouldn’t have celebrated too many more memorable birthdays.<\/p>\n
And deep into stoppage time, Perth Stadium was given an opportunity to celebrate a player no stranger to a stirring international performance of her own.<\/p>\n
Veteran midfielder Emily van Egmond entered the field for the final moments of play to not only see out the Matildas’ semifinal victory, but celebrate a record-breaking appearance.<\/p>\n
Her 170th international game made her the most capped Matilda of all time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Kerr gets her angles right, Katrina Gorry stands tall despite a battering and Kaitlyn Torpey has a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[41432,64,63,43256,512,8069,596,270712,177794,177788,28533,44964,266569,270559,44965,25906,85,256521],"class_list":["post-546644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-asian-cup","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-caitlin-foord","tag-china","tag-five-quick-hits","tag-football","tag-kaitlyn-torpey","tag-katrina-gorry","tag-mackenzie-arnold","tag-mary-fowler","tag-matildas","tag-matildas-game","tag-matildas-vs-china","tag-sam-kerr","tag-semifinal","tag-sports","tag-womens-asian-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546644","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=546644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}