Explore the latest developments concerning Why Cooney-Cross is.
Why Cooney-Cross is yet to play at the Asian Cup as Kerr provides positive update
Arsenal star Kyra Cooney-Cross has not featured in either of the Matildas’ first two matches at the Women’s Asian Cup amid a difficult few months off the pitch.
The 24-year-old has publicly shared her pain after her mum Jess was diagnosed with a rare, incurable bile duct cancer in January.
FOLLOW LIVE: Matildas v South Korea in crucial Asian Cup clash
After returning home to be with family, Cooney-Cross did make her return for the Gunners in the Champions League on February 12, but was dealing with illness prior to arriving in camp for the tournament on home soil.
The midfielder did not see the pitch in the 4-0 win over Iran in the Gold Coast on Thursday night, but she appeared to be in good spirits as she passed through the mixed zone after the match, cheekily whispering into Sam Kerr’s ear as the skipper stopped to speak to reporters.
From 2010 Asian Cup champions to football executives: Trailblazers guiding the Matildas’ next trophy
From lifting the trophy in 2010 to leading the game off the field, Heather Garriock and Sarah Walsh reflect on the Matildas’ only AFC Women’s Asian Cup title and why 2026 presents another chance to make history.
The CommBank Matildas have only lifted the AFC Women’s Asian Cup once.
That breakthrough came in 2010, a defining night in Chengdu that delivered Australia’s first major international women’s title. Sixteen years on, it remains the only one.
For Heather Garriock, now Football Australia’s Deputy CEO, the memory still resonates, not just as a former player, but as someone who has watched the game evolve from the inside.
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The unorthodox coaching gambit that helped Matildas to greatest triumph
An unfancied, injury-hit Matildas won Australia's first major international trophy at the 2010 Asian Cup. (Getty Images: Visual China Group)
Former Matildas coach Tom Sermanni received quite the makeover after guiding Australia to the final of the 2010 Women's Asian Cup.
In a hotel room in central China, at the pointy end of a gruelling tournament played almost entirely on the same pockmarked field, Sermanni had his grey hair coloured and trademark moustache shaved by a throng of jubilant Matildas.
"So about six months before the tournament, the players had been chipping away at me, like, 'Why don't you dye your hair?'" Sermanni told ABC Sport.
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