Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Matildas beat Mexico in Cup warm-up

Updated June 21, 2011 07:52:00

Lauren Colthorpe scored in her 50th international football match and Sally Shipard and Kyah Simon chipped in with one each as Australia came from behind to beat Mexico 3-2 in a World Cup warm-up match in Germany.

The Matildas began their first practice match with plenty of energy before the dominant strike pairing of Maribel Dominguez and Monica Ocampo put the Mexicans in front with two goals in the space of three minutes.

But the Matildas played themselves back into the contest and went into the half-time break 2-2 following goals from Colthorpe and Shipard.

Simon sealed the win in the 63rd minute.

"To come back against any team 2-0 down is a huge positive," coach Tom Sermanni said.

"I think it was a game of mixed qualities for us; I thought at times we dominated possession and had some really good passages of play and at times we left ourselves exposed when we gave away simple balls.

"It was fortuitous that we had a game like this first up and see the things we need to work on rather than go into the first game at the start of the tournament with a false sense of security."

The Matildas will play one final preparation match against England on Thursday in Wolfsburg before moving to Dusseldorf for the beginning of the World Cup.

They open against Brazil on June 29.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand team completed its build-up with a 1-0 loss to Denmark in Naters, Switzerland.

The Football Ferns finished the Matchworld Cup tournament in second place behind the Danes after wins over Wales, 2-0, and Colombia, 1-0.

Colombia defeated Wales 3-1 in the tournament's final match to seal third place.

- AAP

Tags: sport, football, australia, germany, mexico

First posted June 21, 2011 07:45:00


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