Matildas win Cup of Nations tournament in front of Newcastle crowd

NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 22: Matildas players celebrate winning the Cup of Nations 2during the Cup of Nations match between the Australia Matildas and Jamaica at McDonald Jones Stadium on February 22, 2023 in Newcastle, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The Matildas have finished the Cup of Nations tournament undefeated after winning their final game last night in Newcastle against Jamaica.

The rain cleared just in time for kick off and for the Aussie women to defeat the visitors 3-nil at McDonald Jones Stadium in front of a crowd of just over 9,000 people.

Katrina Gorry hit the back of the net in the 28th minute, Alex Chidiac in the 56th and Caitlin Foord in the 69th minute to secure the silverware.

Goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold earned the Player of the Tournament award after strong displays across all three matches for Australia.

Novocastrians were disappointed to see Emily van Egmond and Clare Wheeler start on the bench but the coach did deploy Emily in the 73rd minute and Clare just before the game wrapped up.

Coach Tony Gustavsson said Emily has been phenomenal, but everyone has to fight for their spot.

“She missed a camp due to injury last year,

“It’s been tough for her to come back into the team if you look at Mary Fowler, a similar situation, starting a lot of games but then has to work hard to come back in but Emily has been phenomenal this camp in terms of training quality.

“It’s a tough situation, she’s a player that used to start a lot of games but now she hasn’t started for a while. She’s been the best teammate, she’s been very professional in training and she’s shown when she has come into the games she’s ready to play the games off the bench as well.

“We need every single player to keep pushing for spots and challenge me for playing time because that’s what we need come the world cup.”

The 3-nil win last night is the Matildas seventh consecutive win setting them up well for the Women’s World Cup that starts in July.

“The one thing that we did learn is what it feels to win.

“It wasn’t a brilliant game tonight for example… but tournament football is about finding a way to win, grinding through and believing in what you’re doing and I really credit the players tonight the way they stayed loyal and true to the plan we had and we grew into the game and the other thing we realised in this tournament is that we can score goals and score goals in different ways,” said Coach Tony Gustavsson.

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