The 24-year-old American striker showed her poacher’s instincts in the 14th minute to net her third goal of the season, a campaign which started late as she recovered from an ACL tear that forced her to spend six months on the sidelines.

After the Sky Blues took a slender lead into the sheds, Victory came out all guns blazing in the second half but the home side’s most dangerous threats – Natasha Dowie and Darian Jenkins – were kept shackled at Epping Stadium.

The pacey winger, who recently inked a deal with FA Women’s Super League outfit Everton, put the Matildas’ presence in April’s Tokyo 2020 draw beyond any doubt when she poked home a simple tap-in to make 2-0 on the night, and 7-0 on aggregate, in the 27th minute.

One of the few players in the Australian squad to have been absent from their travelling party for the Rio 2016 Games, Raso is now set to fulfill a long-held ambition by appearing at the Olympics.

The 55th minute strike wasn’t enough to drag Vietnam to a maiden Olympic appearance – with their 2-1 defeat on the night part of a 7-1 aggregate loss – but it did provide evidence of significant progress for the Southeast Asian side.

They had been beaten 8-0 by the Australians less than two years ago, suffered a resounding 11-0 defeat back in 2015, and never had found the net against the Matildas at senior level, with Nhu’s delicate long-range strike earning the diminutive forward a slice of history.

The Matildas overcame a number of off-field complications, including playing Wednesday’s final match in a closed stadium due to Covid-19 precautions, but they were rarely tested on the pitch, going five games unbeaten to secure a second successive Olympic berth.

Beaten 5-0 in the first leg in Newcastle five days earlier, Vietnam looked to be headed for another heavy defeat when they went 2-0 down before the half-hour mark, but the Southeast Asians rallied after half-time, scoring a first ever goal against the Matildas via captain Huynh Nhu’s 55th minute strike from distance.

The 2-1 result was a far cry from the 8-0 defeat Vietnam suffered at the hands of Australia less than two years ago, and Duc Chung said his side’s showing was a testament to their spirit.

Early goals from Sam Kerr and Hayley Raso, added to Australia’s 5-0 first leg lead, before Vietnamese skipper Huynh Nhu produced a moment for the hosts to savour by spectacularly lobbing Lydia Williams from distance 10 minutes after the interval.

The Matildas win means Australia will be represented in both men’s and women’s football at an Olympic Games for the first time since 2004, with China PR and Korea Republic to compete for the final Asian ticket to Tokyo 2020 in the coming months.

Sam Kerr became the Matildas joint all-time second highest scorer with a goal in each half, with Chloe Logarzo, Emily van Egmond and Clare Polkinghorne also getting on the scoresheet in a comprehensive display.

Vietnam’s defeat was an improvement on the 8-0 loss they suffered in the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, but the odds of the SEA Games gold medallists advancing to a first ever Olympics appear implausibly slim ahead of next Wednesday’s second leg in Quang Ninh.