Cooney-Cross brings the rain after a 19-year drought against Germany

22-year-old Matildas player Kyra Cooney-Cross has helped the Aussies at last break

their losing streak against Germany. The teams went head-to-head in a friendly, the last

time they had met each other being the disastrous start to the Australian team’s Olympics journey, but now the score was being set back to zero.

The game was held at Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena in Duisburg, Germany, with the

German national team being the heavy favourites for the match. But that didn’t affect the

Matildas, and so the match started.

The game got off to a rocky start for the Matildas, after an early goal by Selina Cerci.

The match continued until young gun Cooney-Cross received the ball and shot a powerful long shot that the German keeper did not expect.

Sure enough, it hit the back of the net and levelled the score. This was the player’s first

international goal, and also her 50th game for the Matildas.

Later, Clare Hunt scored a brilliant header in the 79th minute to put the Matildas in

front. At 90 minutes the final whistle blew, and it was a victory for the Matildas, ending

their almost 20-year losing streak against Germany.

After the game, temporary Matildas coach Tom Sermanni was interviewed about the

goal.

“It was one of the best (goals) I have ever seen,” he said. “It just shows how much quality,

ability, and vision she has. She got herself into a position where she could have taken it

forward, but she spotted the goalkeeper off the line and finished it perfectly. Kyra is the

type of player who can be the real backbone of this team for a long time to come.”

Let’s see if the Matildas’ win can carry over to the next game.

Please note: Images were added to this Junior Journo competition entry by Kids News editors and minor edits applied as per publishing requirements and editorial guidelines on the site.