The Matildas soccer team has ended a four week tour in the Asian Cup with the ultimate ending…the last team standing. The team is made up of high school aged girls who fought to the end in a penalty shootout against North Korea in Chengdu, China. The conditions were rough and the pitch was “dirty” with broken rocks. But, the girls gave Australia their first win.
Sam Kerr, 16-year-old Matildas striker, began playing soccer only five years ago, aged 12, and now plays for W-League team Perth Glory.
”Hopefully, young girls seeing us winning and doing so well will make them want to strive to play football and be in the team one day,” Sam said.
The team’s performance qualified them for next year’s World Cup in Germany.
Leeanne Grantham, head of women’s soccer at Football Federation Australia, said the team’s quarter-finals showing, in the 2007 World Cup, started the ball rolling in the right direction; women’s soccer was becoming more popular.
”We had 6 per cent growth in the number of young girls joining the sport after that,” Leeanne said. ”My goal is to continue that growth and … increase it. We need to continue to build the awareness of some of these players.”
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