Matildas beat Mexico 3-1, Caitlin Foord scores in game 150 at Western Sydney Stadium

Thank you one and all for joining me tonight.

It’s never nice when the Tillies aren’t on TV, but I’m glad I could at least help fill the void.

The 18,441 fans at Western Sydney Stadium were all treated to a fine evening of football and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as possible.

It is now a LOOOOOONG gap between the Matildas next get together, with the next international window not opening until late September.

There will be PLENTY of football blogs to get your teeth into coming up over the next few days though, with the men’s FIFA World Cup getting underway on Friday morning.

We hope you’ll join us then, good night.

The biggest issue for the Matildas seemed to be defensively though.

Joe Montemurro though said he was happy to see those things happen as the team are learning.

“I will always endorse them playing,” he says.

“It’s gunna be risky, we just now need to be smarter in finding the moments when to play and when we have to play the ball forward a bit earlier.

“If we don’t endorse that and make the mistakes, we’ll never be able to solve the problems because that’s gunna be the way to solve problems in games.

“But we need to clean things up, but that pressure, that intensity,  that way of pressing, we haven’t encountered it before and now we know.”

Joe Montemurro is speaking now to Paramount+.

He credits his team’s success as being down to “a bit more patience”.

“Our biggest problem was we were too slow getting into the attacking third the other night,” he says.

“We worked on getting forward a bit quicker.

“I think with Hayley [Raso] there, staying higher was a little bit easier.

“These are exactly the games we need, this intensity, this pressure, this 90 minutes of go go go.

“We have to be better with the ball, we were caught a couple of times off the ball and were nearly made to pay for it.

“We still need to clean things up.”

He is full of praise for the way his side attacked.

“There were three or four amazing actions,” he says.

“There are a lot of positive signs.

“These games are perfect for us. Now we know how to deal with teams [like these].”

Here’s Ellie Carpenter on Paramount+.

“Yeah, pleased with the win,” she says.

“We had a lot to work on from the last game.

“Obviously had to work out how to beat their press … I think we dealt with that tonight most of the time, still some shaky moments there but that’s what friendlies are for.”

She says that Joe Montemurro urged the team to work harder at the back to avoid being caught.

“He said these are the situations we are going to be put in … so we need to deal with it. Teams are going to pressure us if we want to play the way we want to play which is with the ball,” she says.

“Just quicker touches, quicker ball movement.

“I think there’s a lot to improve on, but that’s a good base to improve on.”

Going forward, the Matildas were good.

Very good.

And Carpenter was thrilled that she could play such an important role in that.

“I think for myself that’s where the space was, we had to break that first line. Torpey also did that well tonight.

“We knew that’s where the spaces were to exploit and in that inside pocket.

“I think we ended up getting there and we had some special moments.”

Here is the milestone woman!

Caitlin Foord speaking to Paramount+.

“It’s very special, obviously it’s an honour to represent my country so many times, and to top it off with a goal is special,” she says.

“But I’m just happy we won the game.”

She, quite rightly, says that she should have been given a penalty had she not stayed on her feet.

“I just picked the far corner, I think it could have been a pen as well, but I stayed on my feet and put it in the far corner,” she says.

The Matildas were not great on Saturday but bounced back well tonight.

Now, the idea is not to have to bounce back at all.

“We’ve always been that team to bounce back. But we want to be that team that dominates and wins every game,” she says.

“That’s something we’ve got to build on now and work on heading into the World Cup.”

A far better performance from the Matildas has earned them a 3-1 victory in Western Sydney!

Lovely corner from Mexico. again it’s Bernal who is the target and this time a glancing header spins just wide of the far post.

Mexico wins a free kick after Rule barges over her opponent.

Rule does a great impression of being bemused at why that is given, but it was a robust push.

The cross is whipped in but Bernal’s header loops over the bar.

There will be four additional minutes.

Jamilla Rankin is coming on in place of Kaitlyn Torpey.

Mary Fowler and Alana Kennedy are both coming off – Kennedy was looking a bit sore to be honest.

Alana Murphy and Remy Siemsen come on.

Caitlin Foord wants a second – why not?

A lovely ball from McNamara finds the Arsenal striker, who can’t quite get the ball out from under her feet, but then is forced to battle – something she’s never afraid to do – and she wins the ball back.

Now she’s linking up with McKenna, but she can’t get a shot away and Mexico clears.

Both the Mc’s have been brilliant since they’ve come on – McNamara’s first touch is a thing of beauty.

Ordóñez is played in on the left side.

It’s a lovely run and she shows Charlie Rule all the moves as she makes her way into the penalty area.

But Rule is more than able to match the Mexican and puts in a very solid block.

Mexico have made a handful of subs.

So have Australia, just the two though.

Kerr and Raso are both off, with McKenna and McNamara coming on.

What a moment for Caitlin Foord!

She scored on her debut. She’s now scored on her 150th!

A lovely run by Torpey takes the ball up field – a real surging run.

She plays in Foord, who is having her shirt torn off her back as she runs into the box.

That forces her to stop, she does, turns and fires a lovely shot past Barreras into the back of the net.

She roars in delight.

A wonderful moment.

Ordóñez gets her head onto a cross but it skids off her head and Carpenter could clear – but Hernández is there and bundles the Matilda off the ball.

Mexico work on the right side but then put another cross in with the Mexicans appealing for a penalty for hand ball.

I didn’t see one, but it was a maze of bodies in there.

It’s end to end stuff, it’s so quick it’s hard to keep up with all the updates in truth!

Exactly what you want from a Tuesday night of football, to be honest.

Up the other end now as Raso makes a move and intercepts a Mexico pass.

She races towards goal, with Kerr central in support.

However, Mexico’s defence gets back and the ball loops gently into the hands of Barreras.

Oh how have Mexico not scored there.

The free kick is a beauty, dropping right on the six yard box and there are two Mexican players hacking at the ball like they’re chopping down a tree.

Arnold had flapped and was in no-woman’s land but still Australia managed to clear.

Charlie Rule is in the book.

It’s the right decision, she’s come across and clattered Jasmine Casarez.