USA v Australia: women's football international friendly – live!

16 min: That was coming, to be fair. But here come Australia looking to equalise straight away! Kerr! No! Chance wasted.

15 min: There it is! A century of international goals for Alex Morgan! And what a strike it is! She latches onto a long ball from Dunn before barging Polkinghorne off the ball, dropping her shoulder to get past Kennedy and firing past Williams with a sweet strike!

13 min: The US come again though as Alex Morgan forces Williams into palming away a low cross into the six-yard box. A bit of a scramble ensues, but the Matildas clear their lines eventually.

12 min: The Matildas are beginning to find their feet now, following that hectic opening 10 or so minutes. They’re playing with a bit more composure. Foord looks to muscle her way into the box, but the ball runs out of play for a US goal kick.

11 min: Strong play from Foord to hold off a US challenge and then find De Vanna out on the Australian left. But the veteran foward’s cross is poor and easily collected by Naeher.

10 min: Apologies, old habits die hard – the previous mention of Butt has been replaced with Yallop!

8 min: Foord sticks out a leg to foil Crystal Dunn and break this attack up.

7 min: Now Carpenter plays the ball down the line to Yallop who gets in a cross, but Kerr can’t get to it. And the US break…

6 min: Here’s Rapinoe again, down the US left, but this time she’s well-tracked by Ellie Carpenter, and the US attack is forced to head backwards.

5 min: The US have started the brighter of the two and since that early chance for De Vanna, it’s been pretty much all US pressure.

4 min: What an opening to the game! Breathless stuff. And here’s another corner as Williams punches Sonnett’s delivery from the right behind.

3 min: Here come the US again, with Rapinoe playing a reverse pass to Morgan, who gets off a shot but it’s deflected behind for a corner, the second of the game!

2 min: Straight down to the other end and the US win the first corner of the game, after some neat skill from Sonnett after making her way forward.

1 min: Here we go then! Underway at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. An early break for the Matildas has the US defence sweating as Foord plays in De Vanna, who looks for a penalty but there’s nothing doing!

Captains Megan Rapinoe, earning her 150th cap tonight to make her the 21st US woman to reach that milestone, and Sam Kerr meet in the middle for the coin toss before both teams go into huddles. We’re nearly at kick-off time.

Jill Ellis, the US coach: “This is great match-up for us. It will test us on every level and that’s what we’re looking for.”

Next comes the American anthem. Incredibly sung. Anticipation for a first glimpse of the Matildas’ new shirts on the players is building.

And here come the teams! There are still over five minutes to go before kick-off, but we’ve got to get through the national anthems. The US women look buoyant, high-fiving each other, while the Australians appear focused. Advance Australia Fair to come first.

Here’s Sam Kerr: “With a new coach, there’s a new philosophy. The intensity increases and training has lifted a huge amount. Everyone wants to be on plane to France.”

Can we expect a ton of goals today? Perhaps. Much will depend on the respective defensive prowess. But if Alex Morgan can get her name on the scoresheet, there will be, or sorts. The US striker currently sits on 99 international goals and will bring up her ton if she can find a way past Lydia Williams in Colorado. Incredibly, that tally sees her sit only in seventh place on the US all-time scoring list.

Familiar foes. These two teams know each other well – not only have they played several times over recent years, there are a number of players who count members of the opposition as club teammates in the NWSL.

Of those recent encounters, who can forget the Matildas’ breakthrough win at the Tournament of Nations in 2017? That was the tournament that really catapulted the team, then coached by Alen Stajcic, to global recognition and set them on a path to a point where they are now ranked six in the world and head to the World Cup with real aspirations of a deep run.

The USWNT claimed a 3-1 win against the Matildas in the opening World Cup game in 2015 and in the last time they met, again at the Tournament of Nations last year, Lindsey Horan’s late equaliser broke Australian hearts after Logarzo had put the Matildas ahead.

There was also this seven years ago:

Some idle kit chat before kick-off. Sam Kerr will lead the Matildas out onto the pitch tonight having been installed as captain since Milicic took the reins. And she will do so in a pair of flash new boots – she stands alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar no less in being honoured by Nike with the footwear – and a brand new shirt, the first designed specifically for the women’s national team. Good luck trying to get one yourself – they sold out pretty quickly following its release last month. Exciting times indeed. And the US effort isn’t too shabby either (with added bonus of three stars above the badge, the big showoffs):

The Matildas will without three regulars in vice-captain Steph Catley, defender Laura Alleway and forward Chloe Logarzo, all three of whom are carrying minor injuries and won’t be risked. Their absence opens the door to Mary Fowler, Katrina Gorry, Teagan Micah and Elizabeth Ralston. Milicic said Fowler will get onto the pitch today, but she will do so from the bench. The unfamiliar name of Tameka Yallop makes it into the starting XI, but that no late bolting interloper, it’s the player formerly known as Tameka Butt, now Yallop following her nuptials to the former Football Fern, Kirsty Yallop!

For the US, 15 of the 16 players who featured against Australia in last year’s Tournament of Nations are in the squad, including 10 of those who started in the 1-1 draw in East Hartford. Alyssa Naeher returns in goal having missed the two final SheBelieves Cup games while Lindsey Horan who didn’t feature at all in last month’s tournament, is also back following a quad injury. It’s worth noting that the American bench features the likes of Carli Lloyd and Christen Press. Gulp.