Canada eliminated from Women's World Cup after crushing loss to Australia
CBC
Canada leaves the FIFA Women's World Cup early and shell-shocked. And, in some cases, in tears.
The Olympic champion Canadians were put to the sword Monday in a shocking, lopsided 4-0 loss to Australia.
It was not pretty, unless you were Australian. The 10th-ranked Matildas needed to win to be sure of moving on to the tournament's knockout round and they wasted little time getting the job done.
It was one-way traffic from the get-go.
Hayley Raso scored twice as Canada's vaunted defence was carved open in the first half. It could have been 3-0 at the break but a third Australian goal was ruled offside.
Canada failed to put a shot on target in a first half and looked rattled.
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And It got worse as Mary Fowler made it 3-0 in the 58th minute. Rubbing salt in the wound, Steph Catley scored on a stoppage-time penalty after video review confirmed a foul against Canada's Jessie Fleming on the edge of the box.
Veteran midfielder Sophie Schmidt, who had previously said she was retiring from international football, said after the game she was "gutted, heartbroken."
"I feel really terrible. I feel like we let down Canadians who woke up early to watch that game," she added, referencing the 6 a.m. ET kickoff. "Australia came out strong, executed their game plan perfectly. They built momentum."
Fleming and defender Vanessa Gilles fought back tears as they spoke to reporters.
"A bad night to have a bad night," said Fleming. "I just feel a lot of disappointment. We have a world-class staff back there with us and world-class fans and I don't think we represented them well enough tonight. I just think this team has so much more in us and such a better performance. That was not seen tonight."
"The Aussies outdid us today, there's no hiding from that," said Gilles.
WATCH: Sophie Schmidt shoulders blame: