Internationals - Kyah on target for Australia, Ria leads New Zealand

Spurs Women had a number of players in action for their respective countries as the final international window of the year drew to a close on Tuesday.

Kyah Simon’s late deflected strike earned Australia a 1-1 draw against current world champions, the USA. After conceding early in the game through an Ashley Hatch strike, the Matildas dug deep and put bodies on the line to keep a foothold in the game.

Their dogged determintation was rewarded in the 88th minute when the ball dropped to our no.17 and her shot from the edge of the box wrong-footed keeper Casey Murphy to spark wild celebrations in front of 20,000 fans in Newcastle.  

Ria Percival wore the captain’s armband and led New Zealand to a memorable 2-0 victory over Spurs teammate So-hyun Cho’s South Korea in Goyang. 

South Korea were left to rue missed chances after piling on the pressure in the early stages before conceding two late goals to hand New Zealand a historic first win since before the last FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019.

Back in Europe, Jessica Naz earned her first start for the England under-23s as they showed their ruthless side thrashing Estonia 11-0 in a friendly at St George’s Park.

Esther Morgan started and played ninety minutes as Wales suffered their first defeat of their 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign against the world’s fifth ranked side, France. Midfielder Josie Green and Academy player Morgan Rogers were both unused substitutes.