Written by Thomas Esamie and Greg Stock. Thanks to John Punshon for the research.
| Australia went to North Korea for a 3 match series to prepare for the Oceania qualifiers to determine the Oceania entrant to the 1999 World Cup to be played in the USA. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played: Saturday 29 August 1998 | Venue: National Stadium, Pyongyang, North Korea | |||
| North Korea (Lineup Not Known) |
0 | - | 0 | Australia Belinda Kitching, Traci Bartlett, Anissa Tann-Darby (Kristyn Swaffer 75'), Sonia Gegenhuber, Bridgette Starr, Cheryl Salisbury, Shelley Youman (Alison Forman 64'), Joanne Peters (Kim Revell 64'), Sarah Cooper (c), Katrina Boyd (Sunni Hughes 70'), Julie Murray (Alicia Ferguson 75') |
| Attendance: 58,000 Coach: Greg Brown (Australia) | ||||
| Squad listing | Official AWSA Press Release | |||
| After the opening scoreless draw in the 3 match series the Australians were looking to go one better. Not quite....This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played: Tuesday September 1 1998 | Venue: National Stadium, Pyongyang, North Korea | |||
| North Korea (Lineup Not Known) |
0 | - | 0 | Australia Belinda Kitching, Traci Bartlett, Sarah Cooper (c), Anissa Tann-Darby (Kristyn Swaffer 62'), Bridgette Starr, Katrina Boyd, Cheryl Salisbury (Shelley Youman 77'), Alison Forman (Angela Iannotta 62'), Joanne Peters (Sharon Black 55'), Sunni Hughes (Alicia Ferguson 80'), Julie Murray |
| Attendance: 15,000 Coach: Greg Brown (Australia) | ||||
| Squad listings | Official AWSA Press Release | |||
| Australia managed to win the series with a late goal in the final match. Julie Murray scoring the winner with a 20metre drive. A real boost to the confidence of the team ahead of the Oceania World Cup qualifiers. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played: Friday September 4 1998 | Venue: National Stadium, Pyongyang, North Korea | |||
| North Korea (Lineup Not Known) |
0 | - | 1 | Australia Belinda Kitching, Traci Bartlett, Sonia Gegenhuber (c), Anissa Tann-Darby, Bridgette Starr, Sarah Cooper (Joanne Peters 55'), Alison Forman, Shelley Youman, Angela Iannotta (Sharon Black 68'), Julie Murray (Amy Taylor 83'), Katrina Boyd (Sunni Hughes 55') Goal: Murray 72' |
| Attendance: 22,000 Coach: Greg Brown (Australia) | ||||
| Squad listings | ||||
| Australia began their World Cup campaign against American Samoa. Australia were drawn with them and Papua New Guinea while the other group contained the evil Kiwis, Samoa and Fiji. This appears to have been a slightly one-sided match. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played: Friday October 9 1998 | Venue: Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand | |||
| Australia Tracey Wheeler, Traci Barlett, Sonia Gegenhuber, Anissa Tann-Darby, Amy Taylor, Sharon Black, Cheryl Salisbury, Shelley Youman (Alison Forman 34'), Lisa Casagrande (Joanne Peters 72'), Alicia Ferguson, Natalie Thomas (Katrina Boyd 72') Goals: Thomas 4' 35' 55' Casagrande 19' 59' Tann-Darby 28' Salisbury 29' 58' 72' 81' 90+3' Black 37' 68' 88' 90+5' Ferguson 44' 79' Taylor 50' Forman 66' Peters 78' Boyd 90+6' |
21 | - | 0 | American Samoa Lealofi Hollins (Lineup Incomplete) |
| Coach: Greg Brown (Australia) | ||||
| Squad listings | ||||
| After their solid opening match Australia had pretty much ensured passage to the semi-final, but they made sure anyway. Meanwhile Fiji lost to New Zealand a result which pushed out the other Samoa. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played: Sunday October 11 1998 | Venue : Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand | |||
| Australia Belinda Kitching, Traci Bartlett, Bridgette Starr, Kristyn Swaffer, Sonia Gegenhuber, Sharon Black (Cheryl Salisbury 59'), Joanne Peters, Alison Forman (Anissa Tann-Darby 79'), Katrina Boyd, Angela Iannotta, Lisa Casagrande (Natalie Thomas 57') Cautions: Swaffer, Gegenhuber Goals: Black 3' 18' 22' Casagrande 28' Salisbury 66' 67' 86' Boyd 90+2' |
8 | - | 0 | Papua New Guinea (Lineup Not Known) |
| Coach: Greg Brown (Australia) | ||||
| Squad listings | ||||
| Well durn it if these girls can't play. Fiji weren't helped by having 2 players sent off in the first half so they did quite well to keep Australia to this score. I thought so anyway. In the other semi New Zealand won 5-0 against New Guinea. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played: Thursday October 15 1998 | Venue: Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand | |||
| Australia Belinda Kitching, Traci Bartlett, Bridgette Starr, Kristyn Swaffer, Sarah Cooper (c), Sharon Black, Joanne Peters, Alison Forman (Anissa Tann-Darby 59'), Katrina Boyd (Alicia Ferguson 56'), Angela Iannotta, Julie Murray (Cheryl Salisbury 66') Goals: Murray 3' 23' 47' Ionnotta 7' 43' Boyd 23' 39' Black 33' 40' 55' Peters 49' 53' 58' 81' Ferguson 69' 72' Salisbury 83' |
17 | - | 0 | Fiji Makelesi Moce, Mereilisoni Aoireki, Julia Mathias (Lineup Incomplete) Sent Off: Aoireki 18' Mathias |
| Coach: Greg Brown (Australia) | ||||
| Squad listings | Official AWSA Press Release | |||
| It always comes to this. New bloody Zealand. Thankfully the Matildas were not as unfortunate as the Socceroos who very recently were bettered by their Trans-Tasman cousins. Also the 3rd place playoff was taken out by Papua New Guinea who beat Fiji 7-1. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played: Saturday October 17 1998 | Venue: Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand | |||
| New Zealand Rachel Howard, Kelly Jarden, Rachel Oliver, Terry McCahill (c), Melissa Ruscoe, Sacha Haskell, Pernille Andersen, Amanda Crawford, Wendi Henderson, Nicky Smith, Michele Cox; Subs: Joanne Evans, Maia Jackman Goal: Smith 77' |
1 | - | 3 | Australia Belinda Kitching, Traci Bartlett, Bridgette Starr, Anissa Tann-Darby, Sarah Cooper (Amy Taylor 90+1'), Sharon Black, Cheryl Salisbury, Alison Forman, Lisa Casagrande (Katrina Boyd 72'), Natalie Thomas (Angela Iannotta 81'), Julie Murray (c) Goals: Murray 2' Starr 13' Casagrande 67' |
| Attendance: 2,000 Coaches: Maurice Tillotson (New Zealand), Greg Brown (Australia) | ||||
| Squad listings | ||||