As one of the co-hosts, this year’s Women’s World Cup was supposed to be the culmination of all this change; a celebration of Australia’s most beloved team. A shaky 1-0 win against Ireland kicked off the Matildas’ tournament before disaster struck once more and they succumbed to a shock 3-2 defeat against Nigeria. That 2015 run marked the Matildas’ best World Cup performance to date, after appearing in every edition since 1995. The assembled 75,784 fans represented a record crowd for a women’s soccer match in the country and the highest attendance at a Women’s World Cup for 24 years, according to FIFA. “It’s definitely transcended the traditional women’s community and so that’s really exciting.”Australia has played its part in making this the biggest Women’s World Cup in history.

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Persons: Sam Kerr’s, backflipping Kerr, Ellie Carpenter’s, Kerr, Gorry’s, “, ” Heather Reid, it’s, that’s, ” Reid, ” Fiona Crawford, Sonia Gegenhuber, ” Crawford, Tony Marshall, Tony Gustavsson –, –, Sam Kerr's, Ryan Pierse, Sam Kerr, ” Caitlin Foord, Bradley Kanaris, ” Gustavsson, ” Kerr, ”, Jaimi Joy, “ They’ve, ” Simon Reus, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, Sydney Opera House, Disney, Women’s Soccer Australia, CNN Sport, Ireland, Nigeria, Canada, Federation, Olympics, US, National, Chelsea, Tokyo, Spain, England, Sweden, Rugby, Reuters FIFA, Australia, FIFA, Sydney Harbour Bridge, France, Brazil, . Sports Locations: Sydney, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Spain, Nigeria, Canada, Qatar, Haiti