And the rest of the Matildas AFC Women's Cup Group B matches

Oops-a-daisy, but unfortunately this whole travelling through Canada thing hasn't helped when it comes to regular internet access. Luckily I've been able to catch-up on all the Matildas news thanks to kind people who have emailed me, but if you missed it, here is a recap.

What happened in their Group B matches? Since we last spoke, the pretty much full-strength Matildas beat the Korea Republic 3-1 thanks to three second-half goals, but then a half-strength (or would we even call it that?) team lost 1-0 to China. Which certainly wasn't the end of the world, but it does mean we have to now play Japan in the semi-final - which is a lot harder than North Korea.

What about Lisa de Vanna? Yep, that's a broken leg folks, suffered against China. Which seems to be a bit of unfortunate trend when it comes to Australia's top strikers. Sarah Walsh first (last year), now Lisa. Let's hope that it doesn't come in threes.

What's next? A semi-final match-up against Japan, who topped Group A. Not only did they finish up there, they scored 14 goals in three matches and conceded only one. They did have the easier group, but still all those goals and the fact that the are undefeated, that has got to instill some confidence. The loss of de Vanna could also affect Australia to two ways. One is that the Matildas will step-up to cover the loss and just find goals from elsewhere (or give Sam Kerr a start, which is kind of an exciting thought), the other is that they may be a bit lost. Which they can't really afford to do against Japan, a team with all those goals and all that confidence. Because the simply reality is that win this semi-final against Japan (on May 26th at 6pm Australian time), they are into the AFC Asian Women's Cup final and will have qualified for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany. Lose and they face the third/four play-off game, which they must win to make it. After what happened to the Australian under-17 team earlier this year, went through the group stage undefeated, lost a heart-breaking seven-goal semi-final and then lost the third/fourth game to miss out on their spot at the under-17 World Cup. Of course, the senior Matildas team is a lot more experienced and most have been playing at this top-level for years, but that might still linger in the mind of a few in this team - included Sam Kerr and assistant coach Robbie Hooker (who was the coach of that 17's team). Whatever happens, I'll be sure to be tuned in to this one and I hope you do too, live on ABC TV.

MATCH DETAILS for those other two group-games -
GROUP B MATCH 2 - AUSTRALIA 3 (Kim CARROLL 51', Lisa DE VANNA 58', Sam KERR 64')
bt Korea Republic 1 (Kang SUN MI 70’) on Wednesday, May 19, at the Chengdu Sports Center Stadium, Chengdu, China.
Referee: Sachiko YAMAGISHI
Assistant referees: Takahashi SAORI and Ayukai SHIHO
Fourth official: Pannipar KAMNUENG
Australia starting line-up: 1.Melissa BARBIERI (gk) (c), 4.Clare POLKINGHORNE, 5.Lauren COLTHORPE, 6.Servet UZUNLAR, 7.Heather GARRIOCK, 11.Lisa DE VANNA (22.Sam KERR 63’), 12. Kate GILL, 14.Collette McCallum (15.Sally SHIPARD 78'), 16.Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 23.Kim Carroll, 31.Teigen ALLEN (9.Sarah WALSH 56')
Substitutes not used: 18.Lydia WILLIAMS (GK), 3.Karla REUTER, 10.Kylie LEDBROOK, 13.Thea SLATYER (c), 17.Kyah SIMON, 19.Leena KHAMIS, 24.Tameka BUTT, 27.Aivi LUIK, 25.Casey DUMONT (gk)
Yellow cards: Melissa BARBIERI 74’, Kate GILL 88’
Red cards: Nil
Korea Republic starting line-up: 18.Kim Jung Mi (gk), 3.Yu Ji Eun, 6.Jeon GA Eul, 10.Ji SO Yun, 12.Choe Su Jin (15.Lee Jang Mi 59’), 13.Kim Do Yeon, 14.Kwon Hah Nul (7.Yoo Young A 78’), 20.Jung Hae In, 24.Cho So Hyun, 27.Kang Sun Mi, 28.Kim Soo Yun
Substitutes not used: Nil
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil

GROUP B MATCH 3 - CHINA 1 (Zhang RUI 9') bt AUSTRALIA 0 on Sunday, May 23 at the Chengdu Sports Center Stadium, Chengdu, China
Referee: Sachiko YAMAGISHI (Japan)
Assistant referees: Ayukai SHIHO (Japan) and Takahashi SAORI (Japan)
Fourth official: Semaksuk PRAEW (Thailand)
Australia starting line-up: 18.Lydia WILLIAMS (GK), 3.Karla REUTER, 7.Heather GARRIOCK, 9.Sarah WALSH (11.Lisa DE VANNA 53’) (22.Sam KERR 73’), 10.Kylie LEDBROOK, 13.Thea SLATYER (c), 15.Sally SHIPARD, 17.Kyah SIMON (14.Collette MCCALLUM 60’), 19.Leena KHAMIS, 24.Tameka BUTT, 27.Aivi LUIK
Substitutes not used: 1.Melissa BARBIERI (gk), 4.Clare POLKINGHORNE, 5.Lauren COLTHORPE, 6.Servet UZUNLAR, 12. Kate GILL, 16.Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 23.Kim Carroll, 31.Teigen ALLEN, 5.Lauren COLTHORPE, 25.Casey DUMONT
Yellow cards: Karla REUTER 20’
Red cards: Nil
China starting line-up: 1.Zhang YANRU (GK), 2.Liu HUANA, 3.Yuan FAN, 5.Weng XINZHI, 7.Bi YAN, 8.Xu YUAN, 9.Han DUAN (13.Ma JUN), 14.Li DANYANG, 15.Sun LING, 16.Zhang RUI (11.You JIA 84’), 24.Ma ZIXIANG (19.Lou JIAHUI 76’)
Substitutes not used: 4.Jin XIAMOEI, 6.Zhang NA, 12.Guan JINGJING, 17.Pang FENGYUE, 18.Weng XIAOJIE (gk), 20.Zhou GAOPING
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil