Western United saw strong contributions from all four of its Young Matildas stars in the side’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup opener on Sunday.
Leah Blayney’s side put in a positive display against the host nation but ultimately fell to a 2-0 defeat after a major sliding doors moment in the second half.
United stars Chloe Lincoln, Sasha Grove and Kahli Johnson all started the game as Australia built well into the opening exchanges.
Johnson saw plenty of the ball on the left wing, looking to get at her opponent and supply balls into the box to get the Young Matildas on the front foot.
In front of a packed out home crowd, Australia stood up well to Colombia in the first 45 minutes with Lincoln largely untroubled in goal.
Real Madrid superstar Linda Caicedo failed to strike any fear in Grove as the right-back came face to face with the Colombian captain on numerous occasions in the wide areas.
After emerging out of the tunnel for the second half still tied at 0-0, the Young Matildas continued to play positively and seek reward for their efforts.
It was an unfortunate goal that gave Colombia the lead, in the end, as a deflected corner fell to centre-back Yunaira Lopez who lashed an instinctive finish into the roof of the net.
Western United young gun Avaani Prakash was introduced 10 minutes later as the Young Matildas sought an equaliser and a route back into the game.
Prakash immediately got her foot on the ball and changed the dynamic of Australia’s play in possession, bring an instant impact to their forward play.
The youngster so nearly delivered almost instantly after coming on when she picked up possession on the top of the box, shimmied around one defender and shovelled a pass through to Indiana Dos Santos.
Dos Santos’ finish was delightful into the bottom corner but once Australia’s celebrations had dissipated, they were left with their heads in their hands after VAR found a foul in the build-up and the goal was ruled out.
The telling sucker punch came just three minutes later as Caicedo scored to send the home crowd into raptures and all but kill the game off.
The Young Matildas and the Western United stars finished the game as they had played its remainder up to that point, taking plenty of positives into the second match against Mexico on Wednesday morning.
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