Westfield Matildas bow out of FIFA Women's World Cup

Australia were knocked out of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Sweden in the quarter-finals played on Sunday in Augsburg, Germany.

Australia were knocked out of the FIFA Women-s World Cup 2011 after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Sweden in the quarter-finals played on Sunday in Augsburg, Germany.

A win would have delivered the Westfield Matildas best ever finish in the World Cup but Sweden proved to be too strong as they went on to maintain their 100 percent winning record in the competition.

Australia found themselves two goals behind just after 16 minutes but a spectacular strike by Ellyse Perry before half-time put Australia within range. Australia started the second-half more promising but a mistake in defence in the 52nd minute gifted Sweden their third goal to put the match beyond doubt.

Head Coach Tom Sermanni gave Perry her first start in the competition on the right side of defence while 16-year-old Caitlin Foord started at right midfield.

Australia-s goalkeeper Melissa Barbieri was forced into action as early as the 6th minute. A back pass from Collette McCallum to Kim Carroll was intercepted by Schelin but Schelin-s first touch was too heavy as Barbieri cleared her line.

Barbieri was unable to prevent Sweden from taking the lead in the 11th minute. Schelin ran with the ball down the byline, went around Perry before cutting back a cross to Sjogran to fire her shot pass Barbieri for the Sweden-s opening goal.

Australia failed to recover from the early goal and soon found themselves two goals down after 16 minutes. Sjogran turned provider as her cross from the left found the unmarked Dahlkvist as she guided her header into the roof of the net.

A bad judgment by goalkeeper Lindahl in the 38th minute from McCallum-s free kick almost gave Australia a way back into the game but Lindahl was unable to do anything when Perry produced a moment of brilliance two minutes later.

A determined Foord forced Sweden to give away a corner and from the resulting corner, McCallum played a short pass to Perry. Perry placed a left foot shoot to the top corner to put the ball beyond Lindahl-s reach and to bring Australia within a one goal deficit. l The Westfield Matildas started the second-half more promising but a mistake by Carroll in the 52nd minute gifted Sweden with their third goal of the night. Carroll played a back pass to Barbieri but failed to spot Schelin as Schelin went on to round Barbieri and slot the ball into the empty net.

Coach Tom Sermanni brought on Clare Polkinghorne, Tameka Butt and Sally Shipard as Australia went on in search of a comeback. Butt-s cross in the 62nd minute found Kyah Simon on the back post but her header was off target. Lisa De Vanna managed to outrun a Swedish defender four minutes later but her shot went across the face off the goal.

Butt was once again in the thick of action eight minutes from time when her shot from outside the box forced Lindahl to produce an outstanding save.

In the end, Sweden-s two early goals in the match were enough to defeat the “Never say die” Matildas. Sweden will play Japan in the semi-finals of the FIFA Women-s World Cup 2011.

Speaking after the match, Coach Tom Sermanni was proud of the team-s effort but admitted that the individual mistakes proved costly for the team.

“I was really proud of the effort, proud of the way our players played particularly during the second-half. At half-time, we felt really comfortable and well in the game until we made a mistake and you can-t make a mistake at this level.”

“We talked about the importance about the first 10-15 minutes of the second half but until we eliminate individual mistakes, it is going to be difficult to win games."

"Even then we kept going and even at 3-1, had we got a second goal, we will be right back in the game again.”

Match Details:

FIFA Women-s World Cup - Quarter-Final

Australia 1 (Perry 40-) Sweden 3 (Sjogran 11-, Dahlkvist 16-, Schelin 52-)

Sunday 10 July 2011, Augsburg

Referee: Silvia REYES (Peru) Assistant Referee: Mariana CORBO (Uruguay) & Maria ROCCO (Argentina) Fourth Official: Dagmar DAMKOVA (Czech Republic)

Westfield Matildas starting-lineup: 1.Melissa BARBIERI (gk)(c), 3.Kim CARROLL, 6.Ellyse PERRY (13.Tameka BUTT 58-), 7.Heather GARRIOCK, 8.Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 9.Caitlin FOORD, 10.Servet UZUNLAR, 11.Lisa DE VANNA, 12. Emily van EGMOND (4.Clare POLKINGHORNE 58-), 14.Collette McCALLUM (15.Sally SHIPARD 79-), 17.Kyah SIMON

Substitutes not used: 18.Lydia WILLIAMS (gk), 2.Teigen ALLEN, 5.Laura ALLEWAY, 16.Lauren COLTHORPE, 19.Leena KHAMIS, 20.Sam KERR, 21.Casey DUMONT (gk)

Yellow cards: Kyah Simon 23-, Heather Garriock 80-

Red cards: Nil

Sweden starting line-up: 1. LINDAHL (gk), 2. ROHLIN, 4. SVENSSON (13. NILSSON 90-), 5. SEGER (c), 6. THUNEBRO, 7. LARSSON, 8. SCHELIN, 14. OQVIST (19. EDLUND 82-), 15. SJOGRAN, 16. FORSBERG (18. FISCHER 67-), 17. DAHLKVIST

Substitutes not used: 3.SEMBRANT, 9. LANDSTROM, 10. JAKOBSSON, 11. GORANSSON, K HAMMARSTROM (gk), 20. M HAMMARSTROM, 21. LUNDGREN (gk)

Yellow cards: Sjogran 67-, Fischer 80-

Red cards: Nil

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