- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Opinion
The Matildas’ penalty shoot-out heroics in Brisbane did something no other sport has managed to do since Cathy Freeman won gold at the Sydney Olympics – it has united the entire nation.
After so many years of hurt and heartbreak, maybe football in Australia was due a spot of luck.
And however else you describe Australia’s 7-6 penalty shoot-out win over France in truly astonishing scenes in Brisbane on Saturday night, there’s no doubt luck was on the Matildas’ side.
But didn’t they earn it?
After 120 minutes of a truly exhilarating encounter watched by 49,461 spellbound spectators inside Brisbane Stadium and millions more on TV and at live sites around the country, Cortnee Vine’s side-footed spot-kick belatedly sent France packing and Aussies everywhere into raptures.
All across the nation – from heaving live sites in Sydney and Melbourne, to Aussie rules fans congregating on the concourse and in corporate suites to watch on TVs around the MCG, to Brisbane Lions and Adelaide Crows coaches Chris Fagan and Matthew Nicks delaying their post-match press conference to tune in on a mobile phone – this truly was the event that stopped the nation.
(Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
In countless news articles and post after post on Sunday – including that incredible tweet from journalist Jacqui Felgate of Emirates passengers watching in mid-flight – we saw just how much the Matildas’ shoot-out win meant to the entire country.
But things could have been so different were it not for the individual heroics of goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.
Arnold and her French counterpart Pauline Peyraud-Magnin went toe-to-toe in a gripping opening 90 minutes, with both goalkeepers pulling off a string of saves to keep the scores locked at 0-0 after regulation time.
And 29-year-old Arnold – who was Australia’s third-choice goalkeeper at the Tokyo Olympics – had already turned in a player of the match performance even before she tipped substitute Vicki Becho’s shot over the bar deep into extra-time.
Before then Les Bleues thought they had gone in front when Alanna Kennedy headed into her own net in extra-time, only for referee Maria Carvajal to rule the goal out for a foul on Caitlin Foord in the build-up.
It was the slice of luck the Matildas needed – not least because the ball had clearly gone out off Becho before France were incorrectly awarded a corner that led to the phantom goal.
It was a rare mistake from the Chilean whistleblower, who let the game flow and was never once overawed by the parochial home crowd.
There was another heart-in-mouth moment when veteran French striker Eugénie Le Sommer raced clear at the end of extra-time, but the unbeatable Arnold once again stood firm at her near post.
And then… that shoot-out.
I’ve attended plenty of State of Origin fixtures in Brisbane and I’ve never once heard a crowd make as much noise as it did on Saturday evening.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
The decibel levels were off the charts – and from my vantage point, it looked like Arnold’s fifth penalty had clattered in off the post for a split second.
But the Aussie shot-stopper saw her penalty rebound off the frame of the goal, while France’s substitute keeper Solène Durand saved both Steph Catley and Clare Hunt’s efforts – the latter with an astonishing one-handed save – all to no avail.
Instead, it was Arnold who proved the hero – with a little help from the foot of the post – and her Herculean performance ranks alongside John Aloisi’s penalty against Uruguay and James Troisi’s winner in the Asian Cup final in the pantheon of Aussie football’s greatest moments.
And that, really, is what the Matildas run to the semi-finals – where they will face England at Stadium Australia on Wednesday night – is all about.
We’re no longer watching ‘women’s’ football. This is the world game bringing people together the way no other sport can.
And when the Matildas run out in front of another sold-out crowd in Homebush on Wednesday night – with millions more watching on TV – we’ll find out whether they can extend their magical run in what has already been one of the most momentous months in the history of Australian sport.