Matildas lose cup final

A first-half goal from Kim Narae and another in the second half from Jeon Gaeul were enough to give the host nation its first ever Peace Queen Cup title whilst Kate Gill scored the Matildas’ only goal of the match which helped her win the Golden Shoe Award as top scorer of the tournament with three goals.

It was a strange twist of fate that gave the Koreans the chance to meet the Matildas in the final.

Korea, New Zealand and USA all recorded scoreless draws against each other which meant the group winner was determined by the drawing of lots.

The Matildas were favourites as Women’s Asian Cup winners and the 11th ranked nation in the world compared to the Korea Republic who are ranked 21st.

But although they p;layed somwe fine football the Matildas found themselves two down aftger 56 minutes.

Gill immediately pegged a goal back for the Matildas with a well-timed header to top left corner of the goal from a Kyah Simon cross.

The Matildas had a chance to equalise just before time when Simon laid a ball back from the by-line to Tameka Butt who was unmarked in the box but she was unable to get a good purchase on her shot and the ball sailed over the bar.

Head coach Tom Sermanni said later he was disappointed with the result but very pleased with the overall effort of his players.

”Considering where we are at the moment, with most of the players in pre-season and a few players missing, I was very happy with the effort,” Sermanni said.

“We lacked a little bit of cohesion and didn’t play the normal flowing football that we like.

”All these matches are good preparation for us in the lead-up to next year’s World Cup.”

The Matildas will now travel to Europe to face world champion and 2nd ranked Germany for an international friendly match at the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg on Thursday.