They made enough of a racket to make my laptop shake on the desk. I think my keyboard was crying. It was as loud a din as I have heard at any sporting event. Cathy Freeman’s lap of Homebush at the 2000 Games, Ian Thorpe’s breathless finish in the 4x100m freestyle relay on golden pond at the same event and a Sachin Tendulkar hundred at Mumbai have come close. Australia could have won Olympic gold, but it was not to be.
The Matildas had their hearts ripped out all over again when they bombed out of last year’s World Cup in a wholly dispiriting loss, again on penalties, in the round of 16. That was less dramatic but arguably more gut-wrenching: Sam Kerr and Emily Gielnik missed early penalties and that was that. After a 1-2 loss to Italy, the Matildas lit up the group stage, beating Brazil 3-2 and nailing Jamaica 4-1, with Kerr’s four goals one for the record books and the highlight reel. But the nil-all shootout defeat was a shockingly abrupt end. Again the Matildas walked away in deep exasperation and disappointment. Always a heck of a team, with a mountain of support back home, they left France empty-handed and ashen-faced. They could have won the World Cup, but it was not to be, either.
So when FIFA gave a nod and a wink at 2am to Australia and New Zealand hosting the 2023 World Cup, it confirmed a three-year schedule of revenge for an appealing group of Australian athletes.
The Tokyo Olympics will finally happen, all things being equal and COVID-19 being under control. And then bigger and better is the prospect of winning the Cup on home turf. As of this morning, the Matildas are Australia’s number one sporting team. What they are embarking on is bigger than big, the pursuit of not one but two prestigious trophies. They have already earned enough brownie points, from a good five years of attractive, aggressive, tough, entertaining football, to get us all onside whenever they play. They don’t have a groundswell of support from the tournament kick-off – they have it from now.
Me right now. pic.twitter.com/SDSNNuEbgi
— Sam Kerr (@samkerr1) June 25, 2020
It is heady stuff for Australian football, for women’s sport, for Australian sport, for all of us who shift to the edge of our seats when truly elite sport comes to town. This year’s Women’s T20 World Cup for cricket has been pretty big, but this will dwarf it. It is the world game, with all its bells and whistles, and all is trumpets and horns, holding a showcase tournament down here. It is Australia’s most significant sporting production since the 2000 Olympics, shading even the 2003 Rugby World Cup for global significance and interest.
Hosting it is one thing. Winning it is another. Ellie Carpenter, the 20-year-old who will rival Sam Kerr for superstardom by the time the World Cup rolls around, the aggressive defender who jets off to France on Sunday to take up her contract with the greatest women’s club on the planet, Olympique Lyonnais, says: the chances of winning it are inexorably helped by the honour of hosting it. The more mates you have in the grandstands the better, as the Brazilians found out in Rio, where they beat the Matildas without being the superior team.
“The Olympics was an incredible experience. I was only 16 years old,” Carpenter says. “But bowing out in penalties is never fun. Then it was my first World Cup, and there was lost of different emotions. It was so exciting but it was so disappointing at the same time, getting knocked out quite early. There was a bittersweet taste from that but we’ll get another chance in 2023. Here! That will be incredible.”
On FIFA sending a World Cup to the southern hemisphere for the first time, Carpenter says: “You dream of going to World Cups and Olympics. To have one in your own back yard is special. It’s an amazing thought. Not many people can say they’ve played at a home World Cup. Having your family at every game, your friends – it’s not possible for them to travel all over the world and watch you play. What a bonus to play here. To hopefully have Australia behind us, to have home crowds at a World Cup, to have all that support, is incredible. We love to put on a good show. The football we play is exciting and entertaining. It’ll be a great chance for us to show Australia what we really are.”
Hosting it will be emotional. A Matildas win will be emotional. A Matildas loss will be emotional. Whatever happens, it’s going to be emotional, and that is when sport is at its best. When it’s deep-and-meaningful and heartfelt and tense and full of opportunity. Says Carpenter: “The belief is always there. The way we turn up to big tournaments, we need to be better at that. Having a home crowd, a home atmosphere, I think it will give us that extra push. It’s a really fantastic time for us to just got for it. To win the World Cup, to win it here, to even think about that … it’s amazing.”
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The Matildas had their hearts ripped out at the 2016 Rio Olympics when they lost a penalty shootout against Marta and the Brazilians after a two-hour marathon that finished after midnight at Mineirão Stadium. It was unforgettable. Unpalatable. Fifty-thousand locals whipped off their shirts, did the samba, doused themselves in warm beer – it was undrinkable, anyway – and mocked anyone in an Australia-themed T-shirt when Alanna Kennedy missed that final penalty in the dead of night.