San Diego Wave midfielder Emily van Egmond and the Australian Commbank Matildas got off to a winning start at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia early Thursday morning, securing all three points in their Group B opener with a 1-0 win against Republic of Ireland. The opening match of the tournament kicked off on home soil for Australia, as the Matildas played in front of a record crowd of 75,784 at Stadium Australia.
Appearing in her fourth FIFA World Cup tournament and making her 128th overall appearance for Australia, van Egmond came in as a substitute in the 75th minute. After going into halftime level, Ireland’s Marissa Sheva fouled Australia’s Hayley Raso in the area, and a penalty was awarded in the 51st minute. Stephanie Catley converted from the spot, sending it into the top corner for the sole goal of the night.
The CommBank Matildas will head to Brisbane to prepare for their second group stage match against Nigeria at Brisbane Stadium on Thursday, July 27 at 3:00 a.m. PT, before closing out the group stage against Canada on Monday, July 31 at 3:00 a.m. PT at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
Notes:
- Football Australia announced Wednesday that more than one million tickets have been sold for the 35 matches to be held in Australia. The current overall ticket sales across both host countries is at 1.3 million, breaking the current sales record from the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup held in France, where 1.1 million tickets were sold.
- Tonight, San Diego Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan will kick off her World Cup run with Canada at 7:30 pm PT against Nigeria. Media assets for Kailen Sheridan can be found here.
