Emily van Egmond is one of the Matildas' most experienced players and the Newcastle 30-year-old has declared this World Cup to be "our time".
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The Dudley Redhead junior, playing at her fourth World Cup, was front and centre as Australia overcame adversity to produce arguably their biggest performance to date in Melbourne on Monday night.
The 4-0 demolition of Olympic champions Canada ensured the Matildas topped their group for the first time and advanced to the round of 16 knock-out stage.
The tournament co-hosts did it with enormous pressure placed on them, facing elimination if they did not win.
But, they didn't just win. They embarrassed the world No.7 ranked side to send a clear message about their Cup intentions.
"It's our time and we knew exactly what was at stake and we knew exactly what we had to do to get through to the next round, and we all came together and we executed the game plan to a tee," van Egmond, who overcame a back injury to play at the World Cup, said.
The Newcastle Jets product turned San Diego Wave midfielder was again deployed in an advanced role for Australia and produced an impressive 84-minute effort before being replaced by centre-back Clare Polkinghorne.
With their backs against the walls, the Matildas came out firing and did not take their foot off the accelerator until the final whistle blew.
They led 2-0 by half-time after a Hayley Raso double. Mary Fowler, who had a goal controversially disallowed in the 34th minute, added another in the 58th and stand-in skipper Steph Catley sealed the result from the penalty spot in injury time.
It was a skilful, clinical, confident and complete performance.
And, it was done with captain and superstar striker Sam Kerr still on the sidelines nursing a calf complaint.
For van Egmond, it was an "unbelievable" way to seal Cup survival.
"I'm just so proud of the group tonight," van Egmond said post-match.
"We really took it in our stride. We knew it wasn't going to be an easy game and we were just so clinical in the final third tonight, which was really pleasing.
"And, on the flipside of that, we also kept a clean sheet, which is massive for us and our confidence going into the next round."
Confidence will be sky high as Australia look to back up the entertaining display with another at Stadium Australia next Monday night in the do-or-die round of 16.
Pressure, it seems, won't be a problem for the Matildas, who thrive in that scenario.
"I think it's just a mentality thing ... you can talk about tactics all you want, you can go over it time and time again, but at the end of the day, there were two teams on the park tonight and one team came out on top who wanted it more and that's simply what I put it down to," van Egmond said.
The Matildas were soaking up the moment, played out in front of a thunderous Melburnian crowd, who cheered and booed at all the right times.
"The most important thing now is we enjoy tonight but we don't get too far ahead of ourselves," van Egmond said.
"It's a massive result for us. We take all of the confidence from this going to the next round and I think you can see tonight that the girls are definitely up for it."
Adamstown Rosebud junior Clare Wheeler, a combative deep midfielder, is also in the Matildas squad but is yet to get match minutes with coach Tony Gustavsson using his substitutes sparingly in all three group games.
Meanwhile, the match proved a ratings hit for Seven and 7plus, reaching 4.71 million viewers to become Seven's most-watched program of 2023.
There has been criticism that all of the World Cup games are not on free to air TV but Channel 7 have confirmed they will screen the Matildas' round-of-16 clash next Monday night.
Australia's next opponent, the Group D runner-up, was dependent on Tuesday night results.