Adelaide United’s W-League recruit Michelle Heyman is a good old-school striker and she loves it
MICHELLE Heyman is an unabashed old-school striker built in the same mould as Germany’s legendary FIFA women’s World Cup and Olympic gold medal marksman Birgit Prinz.
Adelaide United
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MICHELLE Heyman is an unabashed old-school striker built in the same mould as Germany’s legendary FIFA women’s World Cup and Olympic gold medal marksman Birgit Prinz.
The new Adelaide United signing has similar traits to Prinz, now 40, who at one stage of her illustrious career was offered an Italian Serie A men’s deal with Perugia which she politely declined in 2003.
With the Matildas striker knowing the France FIFA World Cup is less than nine months away, she must now impress Australia coach Alen Stajcic in Adelaide’s next W-League season after featuring in Canada in 2015.
“It’s definitely going to make or break me,’’ Heyman said.
“It’s going to be one of those seasons where it’s like I have to be the best that I can be and I want to make sure that I finish every opportunity that I get and that I perform week in week out.
“That’s my main goal that I’m going to be put on myself when the season comes.
“I never really like to put too much pressure on myself I just want to get out there and enjoy it, that’s when you score all the goals, when you enjoy it a bit more.
“There is a lot riding on this season for me personally but in the long run I’ll take each week as it comes.”
Heyman has scored 20 goals for the Matildas after winning the first of her 60 caps in 2010.
After being a part of Stajcic’s 2014 AFC Asian Cup squad, the 2015 World Cup, the 2016 Rio Games and the AFC Asian Cup in Jordan this year where the Matildas lost the final, Heyman says her life goal is to help Australia claim its first FIFA World Cup next year.
“Most definitely and I want to be part of that,’’ Heyman said.
“It would be sad to be there (in the Matildas) for nine years and finally when we are ready to take that (World Cup) medal it’s going to be like ‘I have to be within that team’. But at the same time I want to be the fittest, the strongest, the best that I have ever been at that time.
“I don’t really want to come in and just be another benchie and sit on the sideline because I feel like that ability that I have and what I want to give.”
She is the W-League’s all-time leading goalscorer with 62 goals to her name in 104 appearances mainly for Canberra United where she helped the impressive club claim two championships and three premierships.
Heyman has won the W-League’s golden boot award twice, and says she loves her old-fashioned striker’s role.
“I do enjoy the old-school No. 9 style — that is me in a nutshell,’’ Heyman said.
“It’s completely different to the other No. 9s we have in the Matildas.
“I like to play that way and I think Adelaide are going to play a little bit more that way, I’m old school and don’t really want to change to be that runner that has to run at everything all the time.”
Originally published as Adelaide United’s W-League recruit Michelle Heyman is a good old-school striker and she loves it
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