Football
AAP 4y

Sam Kerr stars for Matildas in Olympic playoff rout of Vietnam

Sam Kerr led the way as Australia beat Vietnam 5-0 in the first leg of the women's Olympic football tournament playoff in Newcastle.

Chelsea striker Kerr took just 10 minutes to get the scoring underway and added a second from the penalty spot on 80 minutes as the Matildas virtually locked up their ticket to July's Tokyo Olympics.

Kerr's opener was followed by further first-half goals from Chloe Logarzo and Newcastle-born Emily van Egmond.

The Matildas carved out a hatful of chances in an open match, although Vietnam had a couple of bright moments in attack and notably Pham Thi Tuoi spurned a golden opportunity to draw the visitors level during the early stages.

Australia should have won by a larger margin and missed numerous goalscoring chances in front of a crowd of 14,014.

Caitlin Foord hit the post, Kyah Simon had a shot blocked off the line and Van Egmond spurned a couple of golden openings.

It took until midway through the second half before Australia added to their advantage as defender Clare Polkinghorne swept home a low cross for a rare goal.

Having won all seven previous matches against Vietnam, Wednesday's second leg in Cam Pha should be a formality in terms of Olympic qualification for Australia who are chasing a fourth Games appearance.

^ Back to Top ^