Sam Kerr suffers horror moment in 'unacceptable' Matildas loss

The Matildas suffered an extraordinary loss to South Korea on Sunday night to crash out of the Asian Cup in brutal scenes.

Australia's hopes of winning the Women's Asian Cup for the second time were brought to a crashing halt in a shock 1-0 quarter-final loss in Pune.

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It was the Matildas' worst finish at an Asian Cup ever, and has heaped massive pressure on coach Tonyy Gustavsson just 18 months out from the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The Matildas dominated the match but were made to pay for missing a glut of golden chances - most of which fell to star striker Sam Kerr.

Kerr missed a golden chance from just five yards out in the 75th minute, scuffing her shot wide when she would normally bury it in the back of the net.

Korea's determination then paid off in the 87th minute when Chelsea star Ji So-yun unleashed a mesmerising strike from outside the box into the top right hand corner of the net.

The Matildas were left furious by a number of controversial referee decisions throughout Sunday's match.

Kerr was denied a penalty due to a marginal offside call in the 17th minute, and Korea were awarded a spot kick in the 38th minute after Caitlin Foord bowled over midfielder Lee Geummin in a strong but fair tackle.

Cho So Hyun fired her shot high above the crossbar to the relief of Australia, but Matildas players were left fuming again when Steph Catley's arm was pulled back in the box in the 60th minute but no penalty was forthcoming.

Then out of nowhere, Ji pulled out a cracker from long range at the death to put Korea Republic through to the semi-finals.

“It’s a disaster, and it’s a failure,” Andy Harper said on Channel 10.

“Anything less than a final is totally unacceptable with this squad.”

Matildas coach under pressure after Asian Cup exit

Gustavsson took full responsibility for the loss, deflecting criticism of Kerr.

"Knowing Sam, she's going to try to take responsibility for this loss," Gustavsson said.

"You don't need to apologise Sam. Sam's a rock star. She's our captain, she always carries the team on her shoulders.

"It's not her fault, it's a team performance. It's a team losing. If someone should be criticised it's me, not Sam.

"I know the pressure is going to be on me. I take full ownership of the result tonight.

"People are going to criticise me, which I think is fair. But I also hope they do that by looking at the performance as well, so it's a fair criticism."

When asked whether he thinks he will keep his job in the wake of the early Asian Cup exit, Gustavsson replied: "I've been around long enough to know those questions are going to come from all over the place.

"That's fair, that's OK, that's what it should be in this business. It's not me to decide that one.

"What I can promise is that I've been around long enough to come back from a situation like this and learn from it and do better, and that's what I'm going to do if I get the chance to do it."

with AAP

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