Australia coach Ante Milicic on Saturday praised his side’s resilience after they were knocked out of the Women’s World Cup in France in a shootout against Norway.
A goal down in the first half of their last-16 encounter, the Matildas sent the game to extra time when Elise Kellond-Knight scored with seven minutes remaining. Australia then had defender Alanna Kennedy sent off in the extra period, but hung on for the shootout.
Norway won the shootout 4-1 to advance to the quarter-finals against either England or Cameroon — who were to start their game after press time last night — in Le Havre on Thursday.
Photo: Reuters
“They never gave up, they kept on fighting,” Milicic said. “They really did things the hard way and in the end we couldn’t climb the final hurdle.”
“Once we lost a player it became difficult,” he said. “I think it was a pretty even game, but I’m disappointed with the result.”
The Matildas’ preparations for the tournament were less than ideal, with several players not getting regular game time for their clubs, while Milicic was only appointed to the role in February after long-standing coach Alen Stajcic was sacked.
Striker Sam Kerr said the loss was tough to take, but the side would only benefit from the experiences they had in France.
“These are the moments where you grow and you become stronger as players and a team,” the 25-year-old said. “I feel like we’ve let some people down, but we’ll be stronger from it.”
“It’s been a little bit of a roller-coaster ride for us, but to see where the girls have come and how the team has stuck together and the staff has stuck with us, we’re very grateful for all the support we have,” Kerr said.
Kennedy, who was sent off for pulling down Lisa-Marie Karlseng Utland, questioned the decision — which went to the video assistant referee for review — to issue her a straight red card.
“I’m not surprised, the refereeing has been questionable the whole tournament, in terms of the rules and decisions there needs to be more clarity for everyone,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s the way it goes, you have to play to the whistle, but we definitely need more clarity about certain things.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB