Matildas captivate a nation despite Australia missing out on Olympic medal

The women's national team conducted a collective emotional orchestra during their agonising defeat against USA

It came down, as football always does, to a handful of moments: the inner face of a post, a deflected clearance, a miscommunication on a back-pass, the angle and spin on a corner kick.

As the bronze medal match between the Matildas and the United States heaved and tossed through the dense Kashima night, millions of fans around Australia - and around the world - hung on each of those pregnant junctures; the ones on which sport so often ricochets and spirals off into multiple futures.