Show caption Matildas captain Sam Kerr celebrates her early goal in the international friendly win over Chile in Sydney. Photograph: Brett Hemmings/Getty Images Matildas Sam Kerr stars as Matildas celebrate historic week with defeat of Chile Matildas skipper scores twice in 2-1 win

Record crowd of 20,029 at Bankwest Stadium Samantha Lewis at Bankwest Stadium Sat 9 Nov 2019 06.59 GMT Share on Facebook

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It was a year ago on Sunday that Chile stunned Australia by winning 3-2 in the first of two friendly games in Sydney, a result that threatened the Matildas’ top-six world ranking and contributed to the tumultuous six months that followed the team like a dark cloud into July’s Fifa Women’s World Cup.

Playing together for the first time since that ill-fated outing in France, Australia’s dominant performance suggested a new leaf was finally being turned, defeating Chile 2-1 in front of a record-breaking 20,029 people at Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta.

The win was the cherry on top of a historic week that saw the Matildas receive a landmark pay deal, making Australia one of the few nations in the world aiming to close the gender pay gap between its men’s and women’s national teams.

It was an occasion that reflected the progress that Australian women’s football has made on the field as much as off it, with a half-time acknowledgement of the 1978 national team players book-ended by goals from the first potential millionaire Matilda in captain Sam Kerr.

Likewise, the healthy contingent of Chile fans toting flags while repeating their well-known World Cup chant —“Chi, Chi, Chi, le, le, le; Viva Chile!”— reflected a shift in the country’s support for the women’s game. Chile came into the match off the back of five consecutive wins, including in the World Cup – a far cry from just a few years ago when they were delisted from the Fifa world rankings entirely for being “inactive” after not playing a single match for over two years.

Australia were in control from the kick-off, with Kerr’s opener coming in just the third minute. Emily Van Egmond, who was given licence to venture further forward than her deeper World Cup role allowed, floated an early free-kick into the six-yard box that Chile failed to clear, with the ball falling right to Kerr’s feet. The ball naturally found the net seconds later.

Van Egmond’s higher role was further enabled by the deeper positioning of 34-year-old Aivi Luik, who’d been brought into the starting XI in place of the injured Elise Kellond-Knight and provided the kind of security and motor needed in front of the back four. However, despite being given the opportunity to flaunt her penetrative passing ability, Van Egmond tended towards safer sideways and backwards options, sometimes to the team’s detriment.

Although Chile’s Camila Záez had the ball in the back of the net unexpectedly in the 12th minute, her header was called offside. And it wasn’t until the 32nd minute that Chile had their second shot of the game, coming through midfielder Daniela Pardo at the top of the box following some rare combination play between Chile’s forward players, but her shot just skimmed over the crossbar.

Despite the Matildas’ dominance in possession, Chile defended resolutely, led from the back by PSG goalkeeper and World Cup standout Christiane Endler.

Following a livelier start to the second half, Chile soon reverted to their first-half defensive shape and attempted to play on the counter, but to little effect. Indeed, centre-forward Maria Jose Urrutia was subbed off in the 62nd minute — despite a few glimmers of skill, she was almost entirely ineffective and rarely supported in transition moments.

A poorly executed free-kick by Australia in the 65th minute summed up Australia’s somewhat rusty performance, with Luik, Steph Catley, and Kerr failing to pull off a relatively straightforward training ground routine.

Kerr scored her second in front of Australia’s active end — set up in Bankwest’s safe-standing area — following a more direct long ball from Caitlin Foord, who herself had been largely invisible in the opening half.

The goal takes Kerr’s national goal tally up to 38, level with former captain Cheryl Salisbury, but still nine fewer than all-time leader Lisa De Vanna, who conspicuously was not called up for this friendly series.

Chloe Logarzo had an opportunity to make it three in the 79th minute following some stellar individual dribbling by Ellie Carpenter, whose cut-back found Logarzo coming in at the back post, but she sliced her shot wide.

After some more promising attacking moments towards the end of the half, Chile finally pulled one back in the 88th minute; Camila Sáez heading home from a well-taken Carla Guerrero corner.

With the news that Kerr will be headed to Europe for the foreseeable future, likely followed by several of her Matildas teammates in the coming years, Australia find themselves at a fork in the road.

The W-League, which kicked off its 12th season as well this week, is home to 20 of Australia’s national team players, and will play a key role in developing the next generation of stars. Amidst its transition to independence, one hopes that its response to the domestic booms occurring elsewhere — especially Europe, where almost half of Chile’s national team are based — emboldens it to make the steps necessary to keep up, lest we be speaking of this current Matildas team in the same vein as what we do of the Socceroos’ “golden generation”: that is, in the past tense.

Australia take on Chile in the second friendly game in Adelaide on Tuesday night, and one hopes they can find another gear before heading into their first Olympic qualifiers in February.

In the context of off-field events, head coach Ante Milicic was pleased with the performance.

“For the majority of the game we were decent and in control, but at the same time I felt the game should’ve been over a lot earlier,” he said. “Coming into the game, we knew that we hadn’t played since the World Cup and the opponent had played four. And there’s a lot of things going on around the group with the new CBA, with a record crowd, playing in this stadium, Sam [Kerr] to announce her move, Jenna McCormick making a debut.

“So when you look at that, you have to be pleased. And overall, I think it was such a beautiful occasion and a great week for us. It’s fitting that we’ve got the result that in the end I feel that we thoroughly deserved.”

Despite conceding late, Milicic was full of praise for his newer players, particularly debutante McCormick.

“I’m so pleased for her,” he said. “You talk about making your debut. How memorable is the occasion going to be with this stadium, this crowd, to get a win. She was dominant. She brought us a lot of that physical aspect that we needed from a centre-back and I thought what we ask of our centre-backs with the ball; you need to be brave. It’s a new way of playing for her at this level and she was fantastic.