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Lisa De Vanna knows straight away when she’s hit a sweet strike.
Something about the way the ball comes off her boot, when time stands still for a split-second and everything happens in slow motion.
The Matildas striker got that familiar feeling against Brazil on Saturday as she ripped in a volley with such panache it was doing the rounds on Twitter within minutes.
“As I turned I saw the crowd, and then I saw Emily van Egmond’s face,” De Vanna said.
“‘I’ve seen the ‘keeper drop, and I knew it was a pretty decent goal by everybody’s reaction and Emily coming up and going ‘that was a sick goal man’.”
De Vanna gets a lot of deja vu these days – and not just because she’d scored a near-identical goal for South Melbourne the week prior.
That stunning opener in front of a packed house at Penrith’s Pepper Stadium lifted the veteran’s international goal tally to 43.
Having already eclipsed Kate Gill as the Matildas’ record scorer, she’s now got Socceroos legend Tim Cahill watching his back.
Six more moments of magic and the 32-year-old will better Cahill’s men’s record of 48 and become Australia’s highest-ever scorer of either gender.
“I’m chasing that, that’s my next thing,” De Vanna said.
“But if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I think about it, but it’s not my main goal.
“I feel like that’s probably why I’m having a pretty consistent game, because I’m just having fun.
“I’m 32, I don’t know when it’ll be my last game. I’ve played at major tournaments where I’ve been sick and stressed.
“It’s time for me to actually enjoy the twilight of my career.”
That almost certainly means not backing up from the 2-1 win to play the entirety of Tuesday night’s second Brazil friendly in Newcastle.
“Physically, I don’t think I can play 90 minutes,” De Vanna said.
“Whether Staj starts me I don’t know, but I know in my body to back it up next Tuesday would be very tough.”
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