The Brazilians in blue kicked off their second group stage match against Aussies in yellow in front of a huge, huge crowd; coming in with a 3-0 win against Jamaica while the Aussies came after a 2-1 loss against Italy. Australia showed much more confidence and a more attacking game play than before, knowing well what a win in this game would mean!
The first 10 minutes itself saw Australia capitalize Brazilian box quite a few times, thanks to Carpenter on the right flank and Kerr’s presence. On the other side, legends Cristiane and Marta did what they do best- tackle, run, shoot! 13th minute saw 41 year old Formiga get booked for a challenge- boot on foot- on Aussie Yallop, ruling her out of the last group game!
In the 15th minute, Andressa made a wonderful run on the right flank for the Team in Blue, sent in a beautiful cross to Debinha in the box, who couldn’t reach it and was OFFSIDE as well.
VAR entered this match in the 20th minute- as Yallop won the ball, made a run and was brought down by Thaisa. But the referee did not need to go the penalty decision as there was already a handball foul by the Aussie! Good gracious, humanity has come far! 😉
Aaaannnddd penalty is awarded to Brazil as Kellond Knight’s challenge brings down Santos. Marta takes it, shoots it in the left corner, and OWNS IT!!!!
So, 28th minute was BEAUTIFUL! Cristiane dispossesses the Aussies by a clean, comfortable sliding tackle- Santos takes it- Thaisa and Santos move it around, Marta takes it- tackles it out of tough spots- Tamires and Marta waltz with it for quite long until possession shifts! :’)
35th minute- Kellond Knight sent in a strong pass into the box- Kerr deflected it with a powerful foot but Barbara saved it!
38th minute saw Brazil make it 2-0 through Cristiane!!!! Debinha sends in an amazingly accurate ball, Cristiane gets to it, and missile-heads it in the right corner of the net as the Aussie Goalie is unable to reach it! Cristiane runs off pointing proudly at her Country’s emblem on her jersey- yes, you made them proud, Ma’am!
Cristiane heads in the ball!
Carpenter again makes a run on the right flank, passes it to Gielnik who shoots it right into Barbara’s gloves! That was the last of regulation time. 3 minutes added and second minute saw Australia fly! The Aussies invade Blues’ box, Monica heads away and clears the ball right from front of the net, but the ball is sent back in by Butt, Logarzo heads it back- yes, that’s right- a back pass by the head- YES, A BACK HEADER PASS- Foord gets to it and shoots it right past Barbara on the right corner of the net!
Logarzo head-passes and Foord sends it in!
Australia jump back and it’s 2-1 for Brazil till 45 minutes of play!
Second half kicks off!
4 minutes on, Cristiane passes the ball to Debinha who sprints with it, NUTMEGS KENNEDY savagely but shoots wide!
50th minute- Australia won a free kick, took it- and nobody reaches it, not even the defending Team! Fortunate for Brazil! Ball comes back in play- Kerr misses it, Yallop shoots it over the next and Goalkick again.
Woah!!! LOGARZO equalised in the 58th minute for Australia!!! Logarzo wins the ball, runs and shoots from outside the box as it flies into the left corner of the net and Kerr did not need to reach it! What. A. Shot.
Aussies jumb back high and completely infiltrate the Brazilian box in the 61st minute as Kerr, Logarzo and Foord threaten the Blue net, but the air clears!
65th minute- long ball comes in to Brazil’s box gets deflected by someone’s head and finds the left of the net! It’s checked by VAR- if it was Kerr or own goal by Monica- Kerr was OFFSIDE so goal had to be disallowed in case it was her. But, it was Monica and the GOAL IS GIVEN! The Aussies make it 3-2 and lead for the first time in this world cup! How the tables turned!
Brazil’s defence weakened after that third Aussie goal, and threats increased. The Women in blue were trying very hard to score as could be seen from the attacking formations.Aussies resort to time wasting techniques in the last 10 minutes! They kept the ball in the Brazilian flanks for as long as offside wasn’t given!5 minutes added! The first minute sees Beatris send in a cross from the right side but Williams punched it away! VAR checks and denies penalty for Brazil in the next minute.
Goalscorer Foord was substituted in the 3rd minute by 18 year old Roestbakken.
And the match ends in favour of Australia as they defeat Brazil, who’ve lost their first group stage match since 1995! Quite a feat by the Women in Yellow! Australia has had a good track record in qualifying for the world cup, but not much beyond.
Today they proved otherwise! Today they defeated a superpower and stated “We’re here to stay, here to win!”. Brazil must buckle up as it heads to a decisive match against Italy in the last group stage game!
Australia knew this would be a crucial chance to get back in the race of qualifying for round of 16 and now this group could go all ways! The third placed team qualification too would be difficult to predict as both Australia and Brazil have now conceded 3 goals apiece, and a win!
Matchday 3 will decide their fates!
All the views above are author’s own. They are not meant to offend anyone. This is not an official coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019. The author owns no rights in this tournament
Trailblazers! 
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