Italy surprises Australia at Women's World Cup with last-minute winner

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Barbara Bonansea scored a corner kick five minutes into the injury, her second goal of the game, to give Italy a 2-1 win over Australia in Valenciennes on Sunday.

It's a triumphal return to the World Cup for Italy, a powerhouse of men's football that made its first appearance in the Women's World Cup since 1999.

Bonansea, a 27-year-old athlete who attacked her Italian club Juventus, also scored the first goal of their team, eliminating Australian defender Clare Polkinghorne and scoring a goal in the 56th minute. She scored the winner by overtaking Australian star plane Sam Kerr for a cross at the far post after a last-minute corner kick.

Bonansea also saw her goal canceled in the first half after confirmation by a video that she had started her run near midfield from an offside position.

Kerr, the 25-year-old forward who leads the Australian attack, quickly gave the advantage to his country by winning a penalty kick after being beaten by Italy's center Sara Gama. Kerr's starting shot was saved, but the rebound came back on her and she slammed the ball. It was his first World Cup goal in three appearances in the tournament.

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The result blurred the race to win Group C before all teams played. Brazil and Jamaica met later Sunday, and Australia still has to play both in the first round. His next tests – against Brazil Thursday in Montpellier – could be even more difficult.

Full time

The Matildas can not believe what happened to them, but it was not a good performance: sloppy, shaky, and they left Sam Kerr, their top scorer, to escape the match in the second half. And then they were punished.

90 + 5 '

Italy does it! Giacinti, the attacker launched for a defender, wins a final corner, and they drop a ball towards Bonansea at the back post – and she scores!

Bonansea is high above Kerr to win this ball, dropping it into the ground and into the net. What a superb finish for this one.

90 + 1 '

Kerr is doing everything she can to find a winner now: center, a shot blocked by Gama at the last moment. She even flopped once to try to win a penalty. If there is a goal ahead, it really feels like it will be an Australian goal. But there is no guarantee that Italy will falter and the pressure of the Matildas makes them vulnerable to a counter if the Italians have one.

81 '

Sabatino, the substitute striker who had come into play earlier, just recovered a rebound on the post and hit the ball under Williams' command for what appeared to be the goal's goal.

But the flag of the linesman gets up almost immediately, and V.A.R. confirms quickly. This is the second goal of Italy wiped out by an offside flag today.

77 '

Valentina Giacinti, the attacker, replaced Berndeschi, the right-back of Italy. Coach Milena Bertolini said, "It's not just a draw, which would be a good result for the Italians. She will push for a win.

But this mentality, well received by an Italian coach, has its own risks. Kerr has been quiet lately. But she will not be forever, right?

69 '

The last stop – to check if a ball hitting substitute Lisa De Vanna in the Australian penalty kick was "a clear and obvious mistake". V.A.R. Official and the referee concluded that this was not deliberate and the game continues. But it's the second or third long V.A.R. delay today. Every call has been proven, but it's also a sign that referees, many of whom have not used the system in big matches, are still solving their problems.

Delays are the biggest complaint about V.A.R. – that it spoils the flow of games. But the players and coaches have pushed for its use at the Women's World Cup and seem confident that just calls are worth it.

61 '

A few moments after the goal, Lisa De Vanna – Australia's best career scorer – replaces Logarzo on the left side of midfield. It's a fine luxury for Milicic, but with a lead in the lead, he needs his spark – she scored in the last three World Cups – and Australia must resume service with Kerr in the middle. .

56 '

Barbara Bonansea has linked a bit of opportunism. Feeling a little relaxed in the back line of Australia, she pushes a long contact from the back of the center, Clare Polkinghorne, drops the ball in a dead space on the right side and sends the ball free on Williams . Starting on the left, she loses foot on her shot but always slips into the right corner for the equalizer.

We talked about how the center seemed sweet; Bonansea has just landed.

46 '

Elisa Bartoli, captain of Roma, replaces Aurora Galli. Italy really has to start offering Bonansea better service, or at least a little more regularity time. The best things she has done so far concern her.

Half time

Australia leads with Kerr's penalty kick, which was won and converted coldly after a first stop for the first goal of his career in the World Cup. But the match was tight. Italy has been denied a goal (correctly) for offside and sent probes to the Australian defense center. Australia will feel good about this half, knowing that it probably should have had more than one, and it will stay focused on gasoline to pursue another goal.

38 & # 39;

A few seconds after Australian Chloe Logarzo opened the head at the penalty spot saved by Giuliani, it should be noted that both teams have problems in the center. Italy continues to try to play directly at the center of Girelli and Bonansea, and it has worked a few times.

Italy, meanwhile, continues to lose marks in the area. It's not a good thing to do when Sam Kerr is hidden inside and Ellie Carpenter unleashes the wing or goes to the center.

21 '

They were fighting in the area and Kerr broke down. Clear penalty. Gama held it with both hands when the ball arrived.

18 '

Or maybe not. The first five minutes of this game were played as if the game was fast forward. Kerr had two opportunities, Italy fought back. But the goal of Bonansea and the delay seemed to have cooled things down a bit. But only a little.

9 '

But no – Barbara Bonansea, who made a chaotic breakaway in midfield, beats Williams but is declared offside (correctly). She was a step behind the midfield defense early in her race.

2 '

A center comes from the left and is hit by the Italian goalkeeper – straight into Kerr, and the ricochet returns almost in the nets.

Australia is back a minute later, feeding Kerr again in the center. This time, she gets closer but over the crossbar. This is not really a secret that they plan to do today, but Italy would do better to monitor it more closely.

Australia: Williams; Carpenter, Polkinghorne, Kennedy, Catley; Foord, Logarzo, Van Egmond, Yallop, Raso; Kerr (c)

Italy: Giuliani; Guagni, Linari, Gama (c), Bergamaschi; Giugiano; Galli, Gernoia; Bonansea; Mauro, Girelli

Sam Kerr is perhaps the top scorer in women's football right now, but there's still one place she has never seen: the World Cup.

This summer's trip to France will be Kerr's third World Cup, but his record and ability as a player have been surprisingly high: 31 goals in 77 games since his debut in the national team at 15 in 2009, she has not yet find the net in one.

"Whenever I get on the pitch, I want to score for my country, but doing it in the World Cup would be a dream come true," Kerr said. "I did not do this. But I feel like a different player this World Cup, I feel like a different person. I feel better prepared, I know more about the game, I know more about my own game and I feel that I'm just smarter.

"Look, if I do not score and win the World Cup, I'll be happy. It's not about me, this World Cup is about the team. "

To learn more about Kerr's remarkable scoring capabilities, be sure to see this interactive our graphic team set up.

Italy are taking part in the World Cup for the third time, but for the first time since 1999. This is the longest gap between the appearances of all the teams in the history of the tournament.

The rise of the team may have taken some time, but we could not ignore it: the Italians only allowed four goals in European qualifying, and a spine built around Sara Gama, captain of Italy and Juventus, and several of his teammates offering both and continuity.

Australian coach Ante Milicic praised the Italians this week in what appeared to be less play and false flattery than a true respect for the Italian team.

"It's one of the most advanced teams in women's football," he said. "Individually, they are very strong, very tactically very flexible, very strong on stopped pieces."

This eulogy was news for Gama on Saturday when she was informed – wrongly – by Italian journalists that Milicic had declared that Australia "feared" Azzurre.

"Really, Wow," said Gama, "that means we've been working long and hard, it's good to hear that other national teams are starting to worry about us, it's important for us, we already knew how we grow up and become stronger, and now we've been able to show it. "

Her coach, Milena Bertolini, took the applause less seriously.

"Australia should be afraid of us," she joked. "And that's good."

In this vacuum, and in the midst of a climate of allegations that the men of football had abused its power over women, speculation and innuendo grew to such an extent that, on May 31, the Australian Football Federation and one of its administrators made a separate apology to Stajcic, confirming that he had not been fired for misconduct.

"F.F.A. This statement is intended to make it clear that Alen Stajcic's contract was not terminated because he had breached his contract or had misconduct, "said F.F.A. I said. "Any inference drawn from these reasons being the reason for the termination of Alen's contract is false."

He added: "F.F.A. acknowledges that some of the speculation about the termination of Alen's contract was caused by the statements of one of its directors, Heather Reid. "

Reid, who said at the time of the change of coach that if the truth was to be revealed, Stajcic "would never work again in women's football," said apologize "without reservation" to the coach and his family .

"I understand that my way of making public and private statements may have seriously damaged Mr. Stajcic's reputation, both in Australia and internationally," Reid said.

About half of the issues raised at the Australian press conference on the preliminary game Saturday in Valenciennes raised the issue in one way or another. One of them referred to a long newspaper article published last week in which he explained in detail the internal conflicts and sexual politics within the F.F.A. that said it led to Stajcic's ouster.

Kerr and Milicic, however, refused to engage on the subject.

"It's all the outside noise for us to be honest," Kerr said.

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