PARIS: The Matildas' Paris 2024 campaign is officially over after their dramatic 2-1 loss to the USA eliminated them two hours later when Canada defeated Colombia.
Star defender turned striker Alanna Kennedy was distraught at full-time after it dawned on her that her late missed chance may have doomed her team to elimination.
After starting the game in her usual role as a central defender, Kennedy was thrown forward as coach Tony Gustavsson made a late tactical shift in a desperate bid to find the two goals needed to resuscitate Australia's stuttering tournament.
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Remarkably it had the desired effect almost immediately, with an unmarked Kennedy latching onto a cushioned header across goal to poke home from six yards out with her left foot in the 91st minute.
That goal triggered a tense period of additional time, with the Matildas flooding forward in search of an equaliser as the officials added seven minutes to the regulation 90.
And it was the towering Kennedy again who was afforded too much space in the box and had a golden chance to be the hero but was unable to guide her header into the back of the net. It was a relatively simple chance and one that she has taken many times in the past.
It was to be Australia's final opportunity and clearly the gravity of the miss weighed heavily on the Manchester City star, who slumped to her knees and covered her face in her hands as the tears welled in her eyes after the full-time whistle was blown.
The result put the fate of the Matildas in the hands of Colombia and France from Group A but they were unable to come to the party, with Canada progressing as a better performing third placed team after claiming a 1-0 win.
It's an extraordinary twist of fate after Canada's tournament was tarnished by a spying scandal, for which they were docked six points by FIFA.
Remarkably their on-field performances didn't suffer and they won all three games against Colombia, France and New Zealand to claw their way back into the tournament even as they made global headlines and their coach was kicked out of Paris and banned for 12 months due to her role in the plot.
While the Matildas almost salvaged their tournament late in the game against the USA, the majority of their match-up was dominated by the Americans, albeit that their opening goal was tinged with controversy.
Gustavsson was shown a yellow card and Nine commentator Brenton Speed described a VAR review as "farcical" as the Matildas went behind late in the first half.
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Trinity Rodman, the daughter of Chicago Bulls legend Denis Rodman, scored a tap-in at the far post, as the Matildas' set piece woes in France continued, but the goal wasn't confirmed for another 10 minutes as technical difficulties plagued a review process, with the referee attempting to inspect a possible offside infringement.
While Rodman was clearly onside a teammate was standing in an offside position as she struck her shot, with the Matildas appealing for the goal to be waved off.
When the referee was finally able to watch replays on the pitchside monitor he determined the offside USA player was not interfering with the goalkeeper or any of the Matildas defenders and therefore deemed that the goal would stand.
Before that decision was made an irate Gustavsson was shown yellow as he argued with the referee.
Both Speed and his co-commentator for Nine's broadcast Grace Gill sided with the ultimate decision made by the officials, but were frustrated by the 10-minute wait before the game could continue.
While the emotion surrounding the Rodman goal spurred the Matildas on and they kept the deficit to one for the majority of the second half they were unable to craft many meaningful chances and paid for it late in regulation time after Mackenzie Arnold failed to deal with a stinging long-range strike from Korbin Albert.
Albert's goal put the USA in a commanding position, forcing Gustavsson to go to play his last hand, with Kennedy sent forward.
Ultimately that tactical change was too little, too late.
