Football - Women Achievements
2010
The Matildas again created history in 2010 by winning the Asian Cup after a marathon contest against DPR Korea in a final that again went to extra time and penalties. The Matildas prevailed 5-4 in the penalty shoot-out. This was the first ever major trophy won by any Australian men’s or women’s football team. This result also qualified the team for 2011 World Cup in Germany.
2007
During the 2007 World Cup Australia progressed through the group stage for the first time in its history, losing to eventual finalists Brazil 3-2 in the quarter finals. The Matildas finished in 5th place in the tournament and reached a world ranking of 12, their highest in history.
March 2007 the Matilda's progressed to the second stage of the Olympic qualifiers and jump to 14 in world ranking - the highest ranking in Australian Women's Football history.
2006
2006 saw the Matilda's qualify for the World Cup to be held September 2007.
In 2006 The Matildas competed in their first ever Asian Cup, reaching the final and losing to China after extra time and penalties. This result qualified them for the 2007 World Cup in China.
2005
In 2005 Australia moved from Oceania into the stronger Asian Football Confederation. This made qualification for major tournaments considerably more difficult. Despite these difficulties the move to Asia has been a very positive one and the high level of competition has greatly improved the quality of our teams and given us ideal preparation for major tournaments.
2004
The first event of the year for the AIS/Australian Women's Soccer team was a training camp, conducted in January at the AIS in Canberra. From that camp, the squad for the 6th Australia Cup and OFC Olympic Games Qualifying Tournaments were selected, along with the new AIS scholarship holders for 1 February to 17 June 2004.
The national team played arch-rivals New Zealand (2-0 win) and highly-ranked North Korea (0-1 progress score, match abandoned due to lightning) and China (0-0 draw) at the Australia Cup in Brisbane in February, finishing in second place overall in the tournament. From there, the team travelled directly to Fiji for the Qualifiers in March. Australia convincingly won the tournament (10-0 v PNG, 7-0 win v Fiji), thus booking a berth at the Athens Olympic Games in August this year.
An AIS/national training camp will be held in May (1-9 in Canberra, 10-18 in Gold Coast), the last major activity prior to the selection nomination deadline (18 June) for the Olympic women's football team . The national team will travel overseas for an Olympic preparation tour in July, before heading off to Athens in early August for the Olympic Games.
2003 in review
Women's soccer commemorated its fifth year as an AIS Program during 2003. It originally commenced on 1 July 1998 as a residential program, then became a camps-based program during 2001.
Head Coach of the AIS/Australian Women's Soccer Program, Adrian Santrac, selected 19 scholarship holders for the period 15 January to 30 June 2003 and 23 scholarship holders (including overseas-based athletes) for the period 1 July to 31 December 2003.
AIS training camps were held in Canberra in January, March, May and July 2003 in preparation for and supplementing national team tournaments. The focus of the AIS/national team program during 2003 was the preparation for the Oceania Women's World Cup Qualifiers (held in Australia, 5-13 April 2003) and the FIFA Women's World Cup (held in USA, 20 September to 12 October 2003).
In the first tournament of the year, the Matildas placed second at the Australia Cup in January 2003, a four-nation tournament against Sweden, South Korea and Mexico held in Canberra. The first two games resulted in solid 2-0 wins over both South Korea and Mexico. In the final game to determine the Australia Cup champion, Sweden, eventual world cup runners-up, defeated Australia 3-1 in an impressive display.
Attention was then focussed on qualifying for the Women's World Cup. The Matildas again enjoyed home-town support, with the Oceania Qualifying Tournament being held in Canberra in April 2003. Australia dominated in the early games, with big wins over American Samoa (19-0), Cook Islands (11-0) and Papua New Guinea (13-0). In the final game of the tournament, which would determine the overall winners, Australia solidly defeated arch-rival New Zealand 2-0 to secure a place at the Women's World Cup. The 20-player squad included 16 AIS scholarship holders.
Specific preparation for the World Cup began in earnest in July 2003. Australia travelled to Sendai, Japan to play in a three-nation tournament against South Korea and Japan. Both games resulted in 0-0 draws, with Australia finishing second in the tournament overall.
On 24 August 2003, the Australian World Cup squad departed for a pre-World Cup tour. The first stop was China where games were scheduled in Jinan and Qingdao. With much of the Australian squad succumbing to illness during this part of the tour, it was a great effort to keep in touch with highly-ranked China, with both games ending in 2-0 wins for the hosts. From China the squad travelled to the UK. Australia played England for the first time ever, with the hosts securing a 1-0 victory with a goal in the 21 st second of the game. After moving north however, the Matildas secured a solid 1-0 defeat of Scotland. The last preparation game was held in Kingston, Canada, with the hosts, eventual World Cup semi-finalists, securing a 2-0 win.
From Canada, the squad moved directly to Los Angeles for the Women's World Cup. The Australians had mixed results, with a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat by Russia, followed by a terrific 1-1 draw with China, then a disappointing 2-1 loss to Ghana. Unfortunately the team did not progress to the quarter-finals, and finished in 13 th position overall.
All twenty members of the Australian World Cup squad are AIS scholarship holders.
Among other results for the national team in recent times were finishing second to Sweden in the 2003 Australia Cup and second to the United States in the prestigious 2002 Women's Nike Cup tournament. The Matildas also won the Australia Cup tournaments in both 2002 and 2001.
The players will now compete in the Women's National Soccer League (WNSL) between October and December 2003.
The focus of the AIS/national team program during 2004 will be preparation for the Oceania Olympic Games Qualifiers (scheduled for March 2004) and, subject to qualification, the Athens Olympic Games (August 2004).
A further indication of the calibre of the scholarship program is the inclusion of four current national and former AIS scholarship holders in the world's premier women's professional league in the United States. Those players are Matildas captain Cheryl Salisbury, vice-captain Joanne Peters, defender Dianne Alagich and striker Kelly Golebiowski.
