FIFA Women's World Cup Finals co-hosts Australia sent Olympic champions Canada crashing out of the competition on July 31, handing them a 4-0 hiding in front of 27,706 fans at Melbourne's AAMI Park to end the World Cup careers of Christine Sinclair and Sophia Schmidt on a note neither will want to remember, yet won't forget in a hurry. "The Matildas" were in the groove from the opening whistle, and took just nine minutes to unhinge Canada's back door, Caitlin Foord sending the superbly performed Steph Catley storming down the left on a brilliant curving run before she picked out Hayley Raso with a cross. She sent a fifteen-yarder arrowing across the diving Kaelin Sheridan into the far corner of the net and began to celebrate, only for the offside flag to curtail the joy of herself and an entire nation. But the Video Assistant Referee's review decreed that Catley hadn't been offside at any point along the journey, so the goal was reinstated. It was nearly déjà vu four minutes later, Catley again rampaging down the left before picking out Raso with her cross. This time, Sheridan plunged to her left and pulled off a fine one-handed save. Canada looked to hit back soon after, Jessie Fleming and Adriana Leon combining on the right, the latter cutting inside before firing in a cross which arced just too far in front of the incoming Jordyn Huitema on the far post. The six foot tall striker was also the target of Fleming's angled free-kick from the left at the halfway point in the half, Huitema rising to head this delivery past the far post as the reigning Olympic gold medalists looked to get a foothold in the contest. "The Matildas" were doing their best not to give them the chance to do so, however, Foord and Mary Fowler working a one-two down the left just shy of the half-hour mark which resulted in the former unleashing a challenging cross-shot. Sheridan gloved it greedily. On the half-hour, Canada spurned a great chance to equalise, Fleming's corner to the near post being flicked on by Julia Grosso, only to find no one homing in on the far post to turn the ball home. Unperturbed, "The Canucks" came again, Clare Hunt's vital headed clearance preventing Huitema from latching onto Quinn's ball over the top as Bev Priestman's charges began to get up a head of steam. But they had the wind well and truly knocked out of their sails soon afterwards, initially by a Fowler strike which was eventually ruled out for offside against Ellie Carpenter, then by Raso's second goal of the game in the 39th minute, the diminutive dynamo stabbing the ball home from close range after Canada had failed to deal with Kyra Cooney-Cross' corner to the far post. Australian coach Tony Gustavsson was so excited by his team's display that he ventured out of his technical area onto the pitch in the shadows of the half-time whistle, an act which earned him a booking from referee Stephanie Frappart, the first caution of the contest. The first substitutions of the match came at the start of the second spell - four of them, as

Priestman made mass changes to her line-up in a bid to rescue Canada's World Cup hopes, which, at 2-0 down, were far from rosy. One of those withdrawn from the fray was Sinclair - certainly not the note on nor the manner in which she would have wanted to bow out of FIFA Women's World Cup Finals football, this being her sixth such event in her storied career. "The Matildas" made light of Canada's upheavals - they carried on waltzing around the pitch in their turquoise change kit, much to the delight of those sporting Aussie gold in the stands. Raso was inches away from completing her hat-trick in the 51st minute after Cooney-Cross and Emily Van Egmond combined on the left, while Cooney-Cross came closer still a minute later, her dipping thirty-yarder being tipped onto the bar at the last second by Sheridan. One of the Canadian substitutes, Schmidt, fired a twenty-yarder over the bar in the 56th minute, but despite the changes, they looked well out of this contest, and two minutes later, they were heading out of the World Cup. Catley sent Foord down the left with a terrific pass which allowed the striker to scythe past Vanessa Gilles to the by-line, from where she pulled the ball back into the goalmouth. Fowler, arriving on cue, made a mess of her contact with the ball, but it mattered not as it ricocheted off the inside of the far post and over the line before Sheridan could retrieve the situation. Australia's third goal pretty much killed off the game as a contest - there was no way on earth Canada was going to come back from this situation, although they did threaten on a handful of occasions. Mackenzie Arnold blocked with her legs to deny Deanne Rose in the 66th minute, while Hunt's intervention prevented Schmidt from capitalising on a golden chance to score ten minutes later. Arnold was twice called upon in the dying minutes to keep out efforts from Evelyne Viens - a fierce snapshot turned round the post - and youngster Olivia Smith, but the co-hosts had long since booked their place in the knockout phase of the competition, and scored a fourth goal. It came as the game entered stoppage time, and ten minutes after Fowler had rattled the post on receipt of Katrina-Lee Gorry's hard labour. "Mini", as she is affectionately known on West Island, was fouled just inside the area by Fleming, an incident picked up on the VAR radar. It prompted the awarding of a penalty, which Catley despatched with venom to the delight of her team-mates and their fans as they celebrated a 4-0 demolition of the Olympic champions, who head for home far earlier than many women's football afficionados would have expected. Canada:     Sheridan; Riviere (Chapman, 46), Buchanan, Gilles, Lawrence; Grosso (Schmidt, 46), Quinn (Smith, 77), Fleming; Leon (Viens, 64), Sinclair (Lacasse, 46), Huitema (Rose, 46) Australia:     Arnold (booked, 81); Carpenter, Hunt, Kennedy, Catley; Raso (Vine, 75), Gorry (Grant, 90), Cooney-Cross, Van Egmond (booked, 68) (Polkinghorne, 84); Fowler, Foord Referee:     Stephanie Frappart (France)