'Atrocious' calls and rare Kerr miss cost Matildas in Asian Cup exit

Josh Thomas

'Atrocious' calls and rare Kerr miss cost Matildas in Asian Cup exit image

The Matildas AFC Women's Asian Cup campaign has come to an end in dramatic fashion after a 1-0 loss to South Korea in their quarter-final clash on Sunday. 

A frantic 90 minutes of action delivered plenty of talking points as Australia battled against some poor officiating, witnessed a rare Sam Kerr miss and suffered from an inability to find the back of the net. 

Here's what we learned from the Matildas' game against South Korea...

Questionable VAR review leads to controversial South Korea penalty

After a dominant first 30 minutes, the Matildas went within inches of suffering a cruel sucker punch on the cusp of half-time. 

South Korea were dispossessed on the edge of the box with VAR, only introduced at the quarter-final stage of this tournament, flagging a possible foul from Caitlin Foord that the referee then spent close to five minutes watching replays of.

A questionable penalty was ultimately given despite there being nothing conclusive about the vision. 

Gifted a controversial chance to open the scoring, South Korea couldn't keep their cool as the resulting effort was skied high with Matildas fans left feeling like justice had been served.





VAR shows no love for the Matildas

After the referee and VAR awarded South Korea a contentious penalty in the first-half, the Matildas thought they had a clear-cut one themselves after an hour of play. 

With the game still goalless, captain Steph Catley was clearly tugged back as she slipped her way between players in the box. 

Despite the referee having a clear view of the incident, she didn't point to the spot and VAR didn't flag it for a second look - much to the disbelief of those watching replays from home. 





Sam Kerr is human after all

She might be Australia's all-time top goalscorer, but even Sam Kerr is guilty of a bad miss every now and then. 

After a number of half chances in the first-half, Kerr should have found the back of the net in the 76th minute after being found unmarked metres out from goal but somehow skewed her effort wide. 

Kerr, her teammates and Matildas fans alike couldn't quite believe it. With the miss proving even more costly 10 minutes later when South Korea's Ji So-yun fired home an incredible winner. 




Josh Thomas