A 4-1 Matildas win against South Africa without Sam Kerr in the starting XI highlights the weekend in Olympic sports.
Football
Bigger opportunities presented the younger members of the Matildas squad against South Africa as Lydia Williams (ankle) and Kyah Simon (ACL) missed the game, while Sam Kerr (illness) was held out until the 83rd minute.
Cortnee Vine stepped up in the striker’s role and scored her first ever international goal in the 5th minute. She was in the right place at the right time, taking advantage of an open goal after the ball deflected off the goal post.
She doubled her tally in the 24th minute when Caitlin Foord delivered a centring pass for Cortnee to finish, creating a 2-0 lead for Australia.
Clare Polkinghorne’s magnificent header from a Steph Catley corner kick ensured the Matildas had a 3-0 lead at the half-time break.
One more goal for Australia came through Caitlin, who used some individual brilliance to dribble around her opponent from the edge of the box, and her close-range shot on goal threaded the needle between the defence.
When Sam checked into the match in the 83rd minute so did dual-Olympian Chloe Logarzo, in her first game back from tearing her ACL in September 2021.
A late goal for the opposition’s Hildah Magaia completed the scoring at 4-1.
The Matildas will be back in action on Wednesday when they take on Denmark in Viborg at 3am AEDT.
Athletics
Tokyo 2020 5000m and 10,000m runner Patrick Tiernan made his debut at the Chicago Marathon on the weekend.
The 28-year-old finished 16th in a time of 2:11.02 and is strongly considering focusing on competing in the marathon at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Modern Pentathlon
Two weeks after Zara Temesi, Genevieve Janse van Rensburg and Tully Watt competed at the Junior Laser Run World Championships in Portugal with exciting results, they’ve taken to the Pentathlon Junior World Championships in Poland.
The girls finished team event fourth.
