Australia secures Women's Asian Cup quarterfinal berth

Sam Kerr

Australia snapped up one of quarterfinal spots in the AFC Women's Asian Cup with a 4-0 victory over the Philippines at the Mumbai Football Arena on Monday.

Fresh from an 18-0 shellacking of Indonesia, the Matildas were fancied to easily dispatch the Philippines, who needed another late finish to secure a victory.

But in a surprise to many, the Filipinas were up to the challenge of trying to make things difficult for the title contenders.

In fact, the Philippines had the first scoring opportunity six minutes, as a returning Sarina Bolden found Chandler McDaniel, only for the latter to send it just wide.

The Matildas managed to assert themselves and took control of the match afterwards, but the rest of the first half saw their chances being stymied by a determined squad, led by Kiara Fontanilla on goal and defenders Hali Long and Dominique Randle.

With the first half ending in a goalless stalemate, Australia kept up the pressure after the break, with scoring opportunities from Ellie Carpenter and Mary Fowler just missing

The Matildas finally broke through in the 51st minute, with Kerr converting a header off a Steph Catley corner kick.

They would then double the advantage a few minutes later, with Randle unfortunately lobbing the ball back into her own net trying to defend against Kerr.

Emily van Egmond put her name on the scoresheet for Australia's third goal, a header to net her fourth goal in the tournament in the 67th minute, before Mary Fowler capped off scoring by sending the ball onto the bottom corner twenty minutes later.

Tony Gustavsson's side now tops Group B with six points, and will lock that slot up with at least a draw against Thailand on Thursday.

As for the Philippines, they still maintain foothold over Thailand thanks to their head-to-head tiebreaker advantage. They face Indonesia that same day knowing a win definitely assures themselves of a spot in the quarterfinals.