Look, there's always a moment in a tournament where you learn something hard about yourself. For the Matildas, it came in Sydney on Sunday night when a team that had dominated the first half simply lost the plot after the break. That's what stung more than the 3-3 draw with South Korea. Not that they couldn't win. That they forgot how to play football when it mattered most.
The Matildas finished second in Group A after the draw with South Korea, with the team taking the lead twice in front of a record AFC Women's Asian Cup crowd of 60,279.The Matildas led 2-1 at half-time through goals from captain Sam Kerr and Alanna Kennedy, and the roar from the Stadium Australia crowd told the whole story: this looked like a match won. You could almost feel the momentum swinging Australia's way.
Then came fifteen minutes of football that hurt.Kim Shin-Ji buried a 53rd minute penalty after Courtney Nevin's hand blocked a shot, and Nevin appeared gun-shy afterwards which allowed South Korea to push ahead when Kang Chae-Rim was given space to shoot. That's how tournaments slip away from you. One mistake compounds into two, and suddenly you're chasing the game instead of controlling it.
Head coach Joe Montemurro wasn't pulling punches after the final whistle.Montemurro shared his frustration at two of South Korea's goals coming from transition moments where Australia lost control, saying "I probably am more concerned that we didn't control the game with the ball well and we should have".He added that the team "did go long when we shouldn't have gone long and that was a little bit frustrating".
Here's the thing about a 3-3 draw in a group stage match: it tells you both what worked and what went wrong, and this one was all about second-half fragility.The Matildas needed to win to finish first in Group A, which would have afforded the hosts the luxury of not having to travel for the remainder of the tournament. Instead,the draw consigned them to second place and the five-hour flight out west for their upcoming quarter-final, and Montemurro was speaking about the team's imminent trip back to Perth and the mental and physical load that will add.
That travel matters more than people realise.The Matildas will have to wade through the long flight and time zone changes, recover mentally and physically from the game and the travel, work around key absences, and beat one of China or North Korea to progress through to the semi-finals and lock in World Cup qualification. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it's real.
Fitness worries add to the headache.Steph Catley blocked a cross with the side of her head in the sixth minute and was later substituted in the 19th minute, replaced by Courtney Nevin. That's a blow to losing experienced depth early in the tournament when you need every player sharp.
The upside:Alanna Kennedy added a dramatic late equaliser deep in stoppage time, which at least showed some character in the dying moments.If they make the knockout stages, they will have a path to the World Cup, and a semi-final berth would ensure qualification for the 2027 Women's World Cup.
But advancing isn't enough. This tournament is about building momentum, and the Matildas gave away a chance to do that in style. Montemurro will have five days to sort out the mess and convince his players that Perth isn't a curse, it's just the next job. You've got to hand it to the Matildas; they're still alive. But they'll need to play far smarter if they want to stay that way.