The Matildas enjoyed a healthy dose of football karma, scoring a second goal just moments after the controversial disallowance of a goal against Canada.
In the 34th minute, Ellie Carpenter and Hayley Raso – who scored the opening goal early on – harmonized with a clever passing game. Caitlin Foord kept the ball alive and it bounced to Raso, who fired it over the goal. It was blocked before Carpenter could hit it, but Mary Fowler rushed in at the perfect time and fired it into the top of the net.
However, after Australia celebrated in delirium, the referee was asked by the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) to go to the pitchside monitor to check for a possible offside call.
And at the moment Fowler shot the ball, Ellie Carpenter was slightly offside – and was deemed to have disrupted play as she was in contact with a defender at the time.
The goal was disallowed, causing disbelief among the Australian players and fans.
“Well that blew my mind,” said former Matilda Amy Chapman in commentary for Optus Sport.
However, the VAR could have easily disallowed the goal due to a foul in the build-up game when Ellie Carpenter stepped on the ankle of a Canadian player who had cleared the ball.
But the Australians, fired up by the injustice of having a goal taken away from them, responded perfectly and scored soon after. Catley won a corner on the left that was fumbled around the penalty area and eventually fell near the goal line to Raso, who sank her second goal of the night to give Australia a 2-0 lead.
But the entire game sequence caused an uproar among Australian fans on social media.
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