Mackenzie Arnold’s World Cup dream

The Matildas’ partially deaf goalkeeper is crucial to their World Cup hopes. ‘It’s sort of been a bit of a mountain to climb to get here,’ she says.

Matildas goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold signs autographs after the friendly between Australia and France. Picture: Reuters

Who wants to be goalie? It’s the question asked by every junior coach. The question that leaves most girls dumbfounded, staring at their fluoro boots and snorting with ineffable derision, praying a mate raises her reluctant hand. Because let’s be honest. Kids never really want be goalie. You’re too young to understand the importance of being your sister’s keeper.

Not so in adulthood and World Cups. When the Matildas play their nerve-shredding World Cup opener against Ireland in Sydney on Thursday night, there will be few more important positions or players than the one guarding the net as if sweet life depends on it. The crucial job will go to partially deaf 29-year-old Queenslander Mackenzie Arnold, who’s overcome the disappointment of being benched through the past two World Cups and has only recently received the hearing aid she’s needed all her life.

“I’m starting to feel like I belong in there,” Arnold said as the Matildas settled into their Brisbane base on Sunday. “The girls are really helping with that. They’re helping with my confidence and my consistency. This World Cup feels a lot more real to me. Hopefully getting some game time, it’s really real for me.

“It’s sort of been a bit of a mountain to climb to get here. It’s peaking at the right time. The last couple of months have been a bit of a whirlwind to take in but I’m feeling really confident.”

Who wants to be goalie? Some kids run home and never come back. Some lock themselves in mum’s car and only agree to get out if they’re allowed to run around on a wing. Arnold gave it a go when she was a young tacker on the Gold Coast because she was in an NRL-loving family and backyard league games had taught her to catch and kick. Longish story short, she was a natural and fast-tracked into the Matildas squad a decade ago. But not everything in the plan has gone to plan.

In one particularly forgettable outing against Spain, Arnold conceded six goals in one half. She struggled to replicate her stellar West Ham form for Australia. She ran hot and cold, letting in three goals in a game against Thailand, only to save three in the penalty shootout. This year has been her breakthrough. Clean sheets are the currency of goalkeepers and she produced two, in stirring victories over England and France, to convince Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson she really is a keeper.

Goalkeeper Matildas Mackenzie Arnold catches the ball during the friendly against France at Marvel Stadium on July 14. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

The sisterhood was in recovery mode in Brisbane on Sunday. Saunas. Ice baths. A day off training.

“We’re recovering well and looking good,” Arnold said. “We had the Welcome to Country last night, which was unreal to see. The France game has done a lot for our confidence. That’s the third team in the top 10 we’ve (played) in the last couple of months and to get results against those teams, and a couple of clean sheets, it shows a lot of the confidence and consistency we’ve been looking for.”

Who wants to be goalie? The young Arnold probably didn’t even hear the question. Not properly. The 29-year-old used to shrug off a hearing capacity that was about 60 per cent. Then Covid arrived and people wore masks, and she realised she couldn’t hear a damn word anyone was saying. She’d been lip-reading more than she knew.

“A life-changing day,” she said of receiving her hearing aids in April. A potentially life-changing tournament is about to begin.