Matildas

Host nation Australia continue their Cup of Nations campaign with a match against Spain.

12 and No. Ranked No. 10 Play, 10 Bold Time (AEDT) Date (AEDT)

The CommBank Matildas will play their second game of the Cup of Nations, with two top-ranked nations in the competition taking on one another at CommBank ...

Fiamma Benítez scored the pick of the bunch in the second half, netting her first senior goal for Spain. Esther González added her name to the scoresheet in first-half stoppage time, making up for her earlier goal being chalked off after a penalty. ● Steph Catley (Australia) played 11 passes into the box (inc. La Roja was the only other team to pick up a victory in their opening game of the tournament, defeating Jamaica 3-0 in Gosford. Hayley Raso, Sam Kerr and Clare Polkinghorne all found the back of the net in the 4-0 win, with Raso making it goals in back-to-back games for Australia with a brace. Spain's coach Jorge Vilda has named a 25-player squad for the trip to Australia.

The Matildas' often-maligned defence will receive a stern and welcome test against Spain in Sunday night's Cup of Nations clash at CommBank Stadium.

We need to get exposed and feel that now so we can fix it before the World Cup.” so in that sense Spain gives us a fantastic opportunity to test our defending. You need to do it collectively.

The Cup of Nations rolls on as the Matildas take on world number seven, Spain at Commbank Stadium in the second of three contests over a six-day long round ...

Minute-by-minute: The Matildas face world No 7 Spain in Parramatta in their second outing of the mini-tournament. Join Jonathan Howcroft for updates.

Australia will look to capitalise on the pace of Vine on the left and Raso on the right. Spain go down the other end and just as Australia look to snuff out the danger there’s a turnover coming out of defence and Hermoso is through one-on-one, but Arnold saves! Spain are seventh on FIFA’s standings, and come into tonight’s match with six victories in their past seven outings, a run including wins over the USA and Japan, and featuring the concession of only one goal. 40 mins: Spain don’t hang around and in the space of a minute Esther and Hermoso both test Arnold but Australia survive. Spain will dominate the ball and look for neat interplay to get in behind in the final third. Hermoso’s corner is helped on but Arnold is first to the ball in a decisive duel with Esther. That’s bread and butter for Spain though who cut through for the umpteenth time, create enough space on the left for Olga Carmona to cross and her ball is dangerous but somehow ends up in Arnold’s hands after a sliced clearance. She had time and space to pick her spot as Spain picked up from where they left off in the first half by dominating the ball in their final third. 58 mins: Spain get a corner on the right but Australia rise to clear. And they have the ball in the back of the net again – only to see the offside flag raised. The corner comes to nought and it’s back to the pass clinic. Credit to the goalkeeper for another magnificent save, but that is a dreadful miss.

To celebrate Sydney WorldPride 2023 and football truly being for everyone, the CommBank Matildas proudly donned LGBTQIA+ Pride-coloured numbers during their ...

"Hopefully the public sees that together, we want to send the message of being really inclusive, accepting and loving of one another. As a team, we're all really accepting of one another and it makes me really proud that the whole team want to wear this rainbow jersey and I'm really proud to wear it. I think sometimes the world could be a little bit nicer to one another and this is just one way of showing we stand with everyone inside and outside of the community."

Tony Gustavsson had promised the payoff would come eventually. In his reign as Matildas coach, the Swede has booked as many friendlies as possible with ...

It wasn’t perfect by any means, but they seem to be heading in the right direction. “The internal belief in this tough process that I put them through has been there, all the time ... Vine received a well-measured cutback sprayed across the top of the Matildas’ attacking box from Hayley Raso and took aim. “But I think their confidence is going to rise from this. The second half was a different story, with two goals from Spain taking some of the shine off the performance as they went on the attack - but treating this just as they would if they were playing the World Cup itself, Gustavsson threw extra numbers behind the ball, and his players threw their bodies on the line to protect their lead. Five months and one day out from their World Cup opener against Ireland came one of the best performances of Gustavsson’s tenure as coach, a 3-2 win over Spain in front of 17,333 fans at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta, and a hint that the Matildas could be peaking at the right time.

Australia and Spain will look to finetune their World Cup preparation tonight as they face off in the Cup of Nations. The Matildas are coming off a 4-0 win ...

Caitlin Foord is the headline change for Australia, coming in for Mary Fowler. As for the away side, Codina Panedas has been brought into the midfield in place of Oroz Areta. 37th min: Ball is in the back of the net for Australia! Katrina Gorry has played a couple of delicious long balls to Vine on the wing, leaving Spain exposed. La Roja, on the other hand, have been able to fizz a number of through-balls past Australia's centre-backs. But the assistant's flag is up for offside... HALFTIME: A stunning half of football for the Matildas. Crafty passes in the midfield, with Foord and Kerr already benefiting from a number of through balls. Caitlin Foord adds her name to the scoresheet, getting herself open in the box to head home Steph Catley's free-kick. A comfortable but composed save for the Australian shot-stopper. Hermoso Fuentes has space in front of her and just the goalkeeper to beat but fires straight at Arnold. One minute for the visitors to find an equaliser...

Australia raced out to a 3-0 halftime lead at CommBank Stadium with goals from livewire winger Cortnee Vine, veteran defender Clare Polkinghorne and striker ...

7 La Roja, the Matildas played at an unrelenting pace which the Spanish were unable to match. “When you concede in extra-time it puts a little bit of extra emotion … “It’s an important reminder that we need to play all the way through to the last second.

The CommBank Matildas have produced one of their best performances of the Gustavsson era, capitalising on an electric first-half performance to shock world ...

However, by that stage, it was too late for Spain to find the equaliser, and the CommBank Matildas held on to a historic win. It was again Hayley Raso with a cross in from wide that found the head of Sam Kerr. In particular, a wonderful save with her right foot in the 62nd minute after Sheila Garcia was played through on goal stood out. The continuation of the energy that the team found in the second half against Czechia was evident from the opening whistle. Hayley Raso was able to find Cortnee Vine on the edge of the area after an explosive run down the wing. In a pattern that became familiar throughout the game, a Sam Kerr header found Caitlin Foord, who was able to release a rapid Cortnee Vine.

With the FIFA World Cup just months away, the host nation flexed its muscles against a footballing heavywe...

Hopefully we can get three (wins) from three in the next game." The defensive question marks surrounding the Matildas though remain as Spain at times were able to create and stretch a dominant Matildas team. Many of the question marks surrounding the Matildas and their ability to win a home World Cup have surrounded their ability to defend and react to pressure moments especially against high quality opposition. The visitors though did pull a goal back in the 73rd minute as Olga Carmona hit a sweet left volley past Arnold to deny the Matildas a second straight clean sheet in the Cup of Nations. [Matildas](https://wwos.nine.com.au/football/matildas) star Hayley Raso says she and her teammates have sent out a "statement" to the rest of the football world ahead of the [FIFA World Cup](https://wwos.nine.com.au/football/fifa-womens-world-cup) after defeating [Spain](https://wwos.nine.com.au/football/spain) in a pulsating clash. The Matildas lined up in a predictable 4-4-2 formation with Western Sydney youngster Clare Hunt lining up alongside Polkinghorne in the centre of defence as she looked to further press her claims ahead of the World Cup later this year.

The CommBank Matildas have produced one of their best performances of the Gustavsson era, capitalising on an electric first-half performance to shock world ...

However, by that stage, it was too late for Spain to find the equaliser, and the CommBank Matildas held on to a historic win. It was again Hayley Raso with a cross in from wide that found the head of Sam Kerr. In particular, a wonderful save with her right foot in the 62nd minute after Sheila Garcia was played through on goal stood out. The continuation of the energy that the team found in the second half against Czechia was evident from the opening whistle. However, the defence stood strong in the first half. Hayley Raso was able to find Cortnee Vine on the edge of the area after an explosive run down the wing. In a pattern that became familiar throughout the game, a Sam Kerr header found Caitlin Foord, who was able to release a rapid Cortnee Vine. The ball bobbed up perfectly for Polkinghorne, still up after a corner, who was able to stab it home. The second goal came in the 16th minute, with Clare Polkinghorne managing to score her second goal in two games. The first warning shot came in only the 2nd minute. This game was mooted as a clash of styles – a passing team, in Spain, against a high-pressing CommBank Matildas. Tony Gustavsson made two changes to the starting side that defeated Spain on Thursday night.

In the end, it was the shoes that gave it away. While they both paced up and down the same sideline of the Western Sydney Stadium pitch, each pointing and ...

Because when the Swede first started this job, it wasn't just about getting the Matildas to play better. A lot of people, caught up in the fog of bad score-lines, lost faith. "The one per centers", as players and coaches call them. His small shoes told the big story. They did it together. Many Matildas fans, as well as the players and staff members themselves, are part of the LGBTQIA+ community, and there has been a noticeable increase in their visibility over the past two years. They played together. Some even called for his outright sacking. How can you know where to go if you don't know where you are? Tony Gustavsson's shoes, meanwhile, were a splash of colour; loud, bright, joyful. It may seem like a small thing, these shoes. In the end, it was the shoes that gave it away.