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Half-time: Australia 0-1 Colombia
Colombia dominated the opening 15 minutes and took a deserved lead through a magnificent Bonilla goal. Australia built thereafter, thanks in no small part to some catastrophic defending from their opponents, but they were unable to find an equaliser.
45 mins: Heyman accepts the long ball through the middle, feeds Yallop on the left, who cuts back inside onto her right and a few passes later the ball is with Micah. Catley is then forced into a one-on-one duel on the touchline. The Matildas need to find a way to maintain forward momentum when the ball is passed halfway instead of having to recirculate in defensive territory.
44 mins: Ellie Carpenter is forced off with what appears a quad injury. San Diego Wave’s Kaitlyn Torpey, playing on her home ground, comes on in her place.
43 mins: Catley’s delivery is great, Hunt wins the first ball, then the second – which is a header in the direction of the far corner – but it evades the post, as well as the despairing leaps of Yallop and Heyman.
Meanwhile, players from both side are on the turf receiving attention. Carpenter looks to have hurt her quad, while Mary Álvarez looks a little dazed.
41 mins: Since their goal Colombia have been largely on the back foot. They seem to want to stroke the ball around midfield and defence around halfway, but Australia’s press keeps forcing them backwards and the back four simply isn’t good enough in possession. Gradually the ball gets closer and closer to Colombia’s byline before the hurried clearance. Australia force the turnover, free Carpenter down the right, and she forces a corner.
39 mins: She doesn’t dwell on it though, switching play superbly for Yallop, who curls over a decent cross but it’s just out of reach of Heyman at the far post.
38 mins: Raso, wearing a black ribbon in her hair tonight, is rightly booked for sliding through late, and with her studs up.
36 mins: Colombia have their best spell for 20 minutes or so. Caicedo begins the move spreading play to the right, Colombia then do well to keep the ball alive in tight areas before a hopeful cross almost falls to Minota, then a second effort is clipped harmly over the bar.
34 mins: Cooney-Cross in the more advanced role is promising. Her technical skill and comfort on the ball in tight areas is a joy to watch. It’s now up to the rest of the team to get onto the same wavelength. Unfortunately neither Yallop nor Heyman have started this match well.
32 mins: Raso and Cooney-Cross link well again on the right. Their rondo-style one-touch passes are crisp and create space between the lines, but that final ball is again found wanting with Yallop running in behind Colombia’s defence when Cooney-Cross wanted the run in her direction.
30 mins: Disappointing set-piece from Australia. Carpenter executes the longish throw, Hunt – up from the back – executes the textbook flick-on… but nobody is attacking the space in behind to turn the routine into a chance. None of Yallop, Raso, or Van Egmond showed any urgency.
28 mins: Almost another catastrophic backpass from Colombia but the goalkeeper clears before Heyman can pounce. Colombia’s defence have had their fingers hovering above the self-destruct button for the past 15 minutes.
25 mins: It’s suddenly all Australia now as Colombia’s panic playing out from the back proves contagious. Gorry has a decent opening just outside the box but her throughball is to nobody.
The Australian press, led by Cooney-Cross, ably supported from behind by Gorry and Van Egmond, is proving the Matildas’ major attacking weapon.
23 mins: Cooney-Cross must score – twice! Colombia again cannot clear their lines. Gorry pounces, feeds Cooney-Cross, but she dallies over her first chance and sees her shot blocked by a superb sliding challenge. The rebound falls kindly but her second effort is off target.
For all Colombia’s control in the attacking half of the pitch, their play out from the back has been suicidal.
21 mins: Heyman must score! Colombia make an awful mess playing out of defence. Van Egmond is gifted possession on the edge of the box, taps a simple assist through to her No 9 but Heyman seems in two minds and fails to either shoot or take the ball around the goalkeeper. Massive let off for Colombia.
20 mins: Cheap turnover in midfield and Cooney-Cross can break – but there’s nobody ahead of her and she’s forced to protect possession and play sideways. The resulting passing chain is crisp but ends only with a hopeful ball into the box.
17 mins: Colombia are well worth their lead. Australia have struggled for possession and control, with Plan A an attempt to play the ball through the lines down the right and bring Cooney-Cross as close to Raso as possible. It’s all a bit too intricate, and reliant on the third player up, who so far hasn’t been on the same wavelength.
GOAL! Australia 0-1 Colombia (Bonilla, 15)
Brilliant. Right on cue, Ramirez accepts the clearing ball out of defence with her back to goal, holds up play, Australia look to Caicedo on the left but the pass is sprayed majestically out to the right where Bonilla is in behind Grant and out of reach of Catley. She gallops into open space and lashes an unstoppable shot across the diving Micah from just inside the box. Magnificent counterattacking goal.
13 mins: Ramirez’s strength through the middle and Caicedo’s trickery down the left make for an awkward attack to set-up against defensively. Both have started brightly, creating space for teammates behind them and further to the right to execute long spells of short one and two-touch passing. Colombia have dictated the early phase of this match.
11 mins: Australia’s brightest moments have come down the right and Raso is typically industrious in the corner to extract the ball from a tight area and cross to the top of the box where Yallop is waiting. The latter’s effort is weak and off target.
9 mins: Raso gets away with a robust challenge on Caicedo just outside the box. It’s given as a corner but nothing comes of it.
7 mins: Brilliant from Colombia – brilliant save from Micah! Caicedo spins away from trouble on the left touchline near halfway, feeds Ramirez ahead who waits for Caicedo to gallop behind the Australian defensive line. The pass is perfectly timed and weighted. The Real Madrid star picks out Santos in the box but from 10 yards out she sidef-oots towards the corner of goal, only for Micah to dive full stretch and palm the ball away. That should have been the opener.
6 mins: Colombia work the ball around their defence and midfield with Australia committing to a diligent high press. It forces the long ball but Van Egmond cannot execute the counterattacking pass and Colombia get another go, this time from broken play, and break down the right. The cross is excellent but Ramirez can’t get her boot to an improvised volley and the chance goes begging.
4 mins: Poor giveaway in midfield from the South Americans but Yallop is slow to take advantage and the Matildas build from deep. They do so nicely down the right in a mode that ends with the onrushing Van Egmond curling a long range effort just wide.
2 mins: Colombia on the front foot early with Caicedo getting in down the left but unable to pick out a target in the box. Tactically for the Matildas, Cooney-Cross is occupying the No 10 role, instead of her usual station alongside Gorry at the base of midfield.
Kick-off!
Australia’s final match in the SheBelieves Cup is under way…
The two sides are making their way out into the San Diego sunshine. It’s around 18C and falling as afternoon gives way to a still and pleasant evening in California.
The Matildas will be in their new all black change strip tonight. Colombia will be in their traditional yellow.
The issue comes from the fact that these comments from Sheargold were so unnecessarily gendered. By comparing the team to Year 10 girls, he draws on societal attitudes that girls and girlishness are instinctively laughable and unserious. There is a long history of society not taking girls seriously – from mocking the kind of music they like and the books they read, to the way they speak, run and throw. By putting the Matildas into the realm of “girls”, Sheargold was trying to – whether consciously or unconsciously – take away the little power they had earned after dragging women’s sport into the spotlight.
Following a 4-0 defeat to Japan, Australia then lost 2-1 to an experimental USA, a result that was damned with the faint praise of an interim coach crediting his side for not caving in.
Colombia XI
Here’s how Colombia go in to today’s fixture. Always a pleasure to see the attacking quality of Linda Caicedo and Mayra Ramirez.
Australia XI
Tom Sermanni has shuffled his pack again, but there are no wildcards in the starting XI. Of note, Teagan Micah continues her push to become the first choice goalkeeper, and Michelle Heyman returns up front. A lot will rely again on veterans Tameka Yallop and Emily van Egmond for creativity and tempo.
“Over the last seven years we haven’t really expanded the capacity of the squad,” laments Andy Harper on the TV, doing his best to remain diplomatic.
Because it’s 2025 and we’re no longer allowed to have nice things, the loudest headlines about women’s sport in recent days have been about a bloke being a dickhead.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everyone and welcome to live coverage of Australia v Colombia in the SheBelieves Cup. Kick-off at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego is 4:30pm local time (11:30am AEDT).
Unfortunately for both teams this is a crushing non-event of a fixture. The competitive jeopardy extends to the avoidance of last place in the four-team tournament, with the superior pair of Japan and the USA battling it out for silverware later on.
Nonetheless, there is still much for the Matildas to gain from 90 minutes against one of the most instinctive sides in international football.
At a basic level Australia just need a result to restore some of the feel-good factor that normally accompanies the squad. Seven defeats in 12 from the recent World Cup semi-finalists indicates a team enduring a prolonged spell of poor form, or worse, it may be signalling a more significant decline requiring revised expectations; downwards.
If it is the latter, tournaments like this, and especially fixtures like this, must be seized upon to figure out what the next iteration of this team looks like. The starting XI against Japan in the opening match was a Sam Kerr away from the preferred XI for most of the last four years – and it was hammered 4-0.
Clearly this is not helped by the extended presence of an interim coach (nor a predecessor with a short-term focus). Whoever is appointed full-time will be forced to grasp the nettle, and somehow balance squad rejuvenation against the hype that will come with Australia hosting the next major tournament: the 2026 Asian Cup. And while that competition sounds futuristic, the opening ceremony is just a year and two days away.
I’ll be back with team news and more talking points shortly. If you want to get in touch feel free to drop me an email.
