Sam Kerr led the way as Australia beat Vietnam 5-0 in the first leg of the women's Olympic football tournament playoff in Newcastle. Chelsea striker Kerr took just 10 minutes to get the scoring underway and added a second from the penalty spot on 80 minutes as the Matildas virtually locked up their ticket to July's Tokyo Olympics. Kerr's opener was followed by further first-half goals from Chloe Logarzo and Newcastle-born Emily van Egmond. The Matildas carved out a hatful of chances in an open match, although Vietnam had a couple of bright moments in attack and notably Pham Thi Tuoi spurned a golden opportunity to draw the visitors level during the early stages. Australia should have won by a larger margin and missed numerous goalscoring chances in front of a crowd of 14,014. Caitlin Foord hit the post, Kyah Simon had a shot blocked off the line and Van Egmond spurned a couple of golden openings. It took until midway through the second half before Australia added to their advantage as defender Clare Polkinghorne swept home a low cross for a rare goal. Having won all seven previous matches against Vietnam, Wednesday's second leg in Cam Pha should be a formality in terms of Olympic qualification for Australia who are chasing a fourth Games appearance.
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