FIFA World Cup 2023: Matildas ‘Great Wall’ is a keeper. Honestly

If Mackenzie Arnold has an enviable record in the making, and if it continues the Matildas will make it through to the next round.

Mackenzie Arnold has not conceded a goal for the Matildas in nearly six hours of international football Picture: Getty Images

Mackenzie Arnold grew up following the Broncos. She’ll be traipsing in the footsteps of Lockyer and Tallis and assorted other celebrated Brisbanites when she enters Suncorp Stadium for Thursday night’s World Cup clash against Nigeria.

She hasn’t conceded a goal in nearly six hours of football. Apologies if we’ve just applied the mock.

She’s guarding her netting like a fisherwoman waving away the birds. Raised on the Gold Coast, where her first junior club was at Burleigh Heads, a radiant yet ruddy part of town, no one has scored against her since April.

More clean sheets than a Hilton hotel.

She couldn’t be working more tidily if she had mop and broom, knocking balls away as though her hands are pinball flippers, forever being thanked and applauded by teammates gasping in their relief.

The Great Wall of Burleigh Heads. The Matildas cannot lose if the opposition doesn’t score.

All of which means Arnold has become worth her weight in goal – sorry, gold – consistently doing her job to sparkling perfection before a match carrying all sorts of ramifications for the Matildas.

Mackenzie Arnold stood tall against Ireland in the Matildas’ opening World Cup game at Stadium Australia Picture: AFP

If they beat Nigeria to (just about) guarantee passage to the last 16, there’s no rush for Sam Kerr to return from injury.

If they lose, Monday’s final group match against Canada in Melbourne becomes a must-win, and Kerr will be under immense pressure to play.

Arnold seems a down-to-earth type. She keeps saying “honestly” and “to be honest”, which suits a goalkeeper, right? They’re a strong and sturdy type. Cleaning up the mess. Savin’ everybody’s bacon. When the Matildas were celebrating Steph Catley’s goal against Ireland, only one Australian was on her own: Arnold, 105m away, standing in front of the ­castle she rarely leaves.

“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve had a feeling like that,” she said. “As soon as it went in, there was just chills through my whole body. I’ve actually never felt a feeling like that before. It was unreal. Australian fans are honestly something that you can’t even describe. I don’t usually run over and join in unless it’s, like, a 90th-minute winner. I had my moment and I saw the girls have their moment. Then I thought, all right, lets just chill out a little bit. We still had 30 minutes or something to go.”

In any sport, we’re smitten by attack, right? By the flair of a Mary Fowler. By the creativity of an Estefania Banini. See her play for Argentina against Italy? Absolutely brilliant. But when it gets down to the nitty gritty in any football code, whether you’re playing for the Broncos or the Matildas in front of a packed house at Suncorp, you win nothing without supreme defence.

“Honestly, being able to make my World Cup debut in my home country, in front of my family and friends – I think it really sank in when we sang the national anthem in Sydney. You just hear the whole stadium singing with you. It’s another feeling I really can’t describe or put into words. Honestly.”

The Matildas hung on for dear sweet life in the final stages against Ireland. The Great Wall of Burleigh Heads wasn’t alone in protecting her rectangular fortress, of course. It’s a heck of a foursome back there, as evidenced by the prestige of their overseas clubs.

Steph Catley plies her trade for Arsenal. Alanna Kennedy plays for Manchester City. Ellie Carpenter lights it up for Lyon. Clare Hunt is the only A-League representative, the captain of the Western Sydney Wanderers.

Arnold is contracted to West Ham United.

She had a 98-minute clean sheet against Ireland. A 100-minute clean sheet against France. A 96-minute clean sheet against England in April. In the same month, Scotland scored with 49 minutes left on the clock. That’s 343 unblemished minutes. When we say she’s cleaner than Hilton – the mock! – all five members of the Matildas backline deserve credit.

“To be honest, I didn’t really feel nervous at all,” she says of ­Ireland coming at Australia with hammers, tongs and kitchen sinks in Sydney. “Obviously, we were under the pump a little bit but I think we dealt with it really well. The whole time, especially the backline, we really stuck it out and like I say, I just didn’t really feel nerves. We held strong and we could feel that within each other. Honestly.”