The Matildashave returned to the winner’s circle after six months, cruising to a 4-1 win over South Africa in London.
After a disappointing pair of losses to Canada, the latter coming in the first-ever football game played at the new Allianz Stadium, Australia were running out of chances to create some positive headlines ahead of next year’s World Cup.
But two goals to Cortnee Vine and a third just before halftime from Clare Polkinghorne gave Tony Gustavsson’s team a healthy buffer, before Arsenal’s Caitlin Foord made it four just after the interval.
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Hildah Magaia grabbed a late consolation for South Africa, a top-class finish that robbed the Aussies of a clean sheet.
The team was able to welcome back Chloe Logarzo after she tore her ACL more than a year ago, while Sam Kerr also came off the bench due to illness.
The coach credited the five-day camp that the team had ahead of the match, which took place at Chelsea’s home ground at Kingsmeadow.
“I think you could see that we’ve been looking for a solid performance of 90 minutes for a long time,” Gustavsson said afterwards.
“And this was the most solid performance over time. We’ve seen 50 minutes here, a half here, 30 minutes here, but haven’t seen a 90 minutes performance as of today.”
Australia will have a couple a quick turnaround before a match against Denmark on Wednesday at 3am AEDT.
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