{"id":372619,"date":"2024-03-03T20:47:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T21:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=372619"},"modified":"2024-03-04T01:05:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T01:05:04","slug":"this-is-nuts-fans-stunned-by-young-matildas-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=372619","title":{"rendered":"'This is nuts': Fans stunned by Young Matildas match"},"content":{"rendered":"

Organisers of the Under 20s Women's Asian Cup<\/a> in Uzbekistan have faced backlash from football fans after the Young Matildas were forced to play their opening match against Korea Republic on a snow-covered pitch.<\/p>\n

The Young Matildas came from behind to pull off a resilient 2-1 victory over Korea Republic on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

However, viewers were ropable with the amount of snow blanketing the middle of the pitch.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Rooster's bizarre defence of 'monkey' allegation\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Broncos star 'in tears' after alleged racist comment\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> South Sydney coach laments costly errors in Vegas loss\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Attempts were made to clear parts of the pitch, with the sidelines and markings of the centre circle visible.<\/p>\n

However, fans on social media were quick to question \ufeffwhy the entire field was not cleared in preparation for the match, especially in the interest of player safety.<\/p>\n

In terrible scenes, players were seen digging through the snow in the middle of the pitch to uncover the penalty areas and the ball was repeatedly compromised as it became stuck in the ankle-deep snow.<\/p>\n

Former \ufeffMatilda Amy Chapman and midfielder Alex Chidiac were among the most vocal online.<\/p>\n

"I am still not comprehending this. How is this game happening?," Chapman wrote on X.<\/p>\n

"Nice little cruyff turn in there- but this is insane. Player safety must come first."<\/p>\n

Chidiac added to the discussion: "How is this okay to play in?"<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/amy_chapman3\/status\/1764219393117196742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/alexchidiac10\/status\/1764204599534342227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/MatildasAlumni\/status\/1764218662364590446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

The cold and \ufeffsnowy conditions in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent were not exactly a shock, with senior Matildas<\/a> player Amy Sayer, who plays her club football for Kristianstads DFF in Sweden, telling the Matildas' website ahead of the side's Olympic qualifier how the cold climate and presence of snow could impact the match.<\/p>\n

"It takes a lot of mental fortitude to push through [those conditions]," she said.<\/p>\n

"There will be some differences in how the ball rolls, how the field feels to us.<\/p>\n

"But I think that the strength of this team is so great. We can really push through any condition, whether it's two feet of snow or whatever else Uzbekistan might throw at us."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/battledinosaur\/status\/1764199189460955393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/M1D3V\/status\/1764204866182983943?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia trailed 1-0 at half time after a goal from Jeon Yu-Gyeong in the 25th minute.<\/p>\n

However, \ufeffAustralia rallied in the second half with Peta Trimis levelling the scores in the 73rd minute before Naomi Chinnama booted a 90th-minute winner.<\/p>\n

The Young Matildas' second-half goals were sparked by changes at the main break from coach Leah Blayney, including the injection of Lara Gooch.<\/p>\n

With the win, Australia shot to the top \ufeffof Group A with matches still to come against Uzbekistan and Chinese Taipei.<\/p>\n

The team \ufeffwill next face Uzbekistan on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

In similar scenes, \ufeffLos Angeles FC and Real Salt Lake played out their Major League Soccer match in heavy snow on Sunday, triggering backlash.<\/p>\n

"I feel terrible for the players that we put them through this," Los Angeles FC manager Steve Cherundolo said post-match.<\/p>\n

"The game could have and should have been called [off]. In my opinion, it was an absolute disgrace we had to play today."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Organisers of the Under 20s Women's Asian Cup in Uzbekistan have faced backlash from football fans after the Young Matildas were forced to play their […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":372624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=372619"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372625,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372619\/revisions\/372625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/372624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=372619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=372619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=372619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}