When Matildas goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold shocked the nation – and World Cup opponents France – with her penalty-saving heroics on Saturday, her teammates were distinctly unsurprised. “That’s Macca doing Macca things,” said Tameka Yallop a couple of days later. “She does that all the time in training. So for us it wasn’t anything new.” Sam Kerr joked that she was glad it was not only her own penalties being saved by Arnold. “She saves all our pens at training and gives us no confidence,” the striker said.
Her goalkeeping counterpart, Lydia Williams, described Arnold’s shot-stopping as “natural”, even “innate”. Those skills paid off as the quarter-final went to penalties, and then extended into the longest-ever shootout in World Cup history. “I talk to her about it and I’m like ‘I don’t know how you do it,’” Williams said earlier this week. “‘And she says: ‘I don’t know how I do it.’ And that’s the end of that conversation.”
Social media has been ablaze with memes of Arnold as a brick wall, or being described as Australia’s “minister for defence”. Arnold Court, a road in Melbourne, has been unofficially renamed by residents in the goalkeeper’s honour – a sign says that “this street is hereby dedicated to Mackenzie Arnold for her services to the country”.
But ahead of the Matildas’ semi-final encounter with England on Wednesday night, Arnold is trying not to get caught up in the hype. She knows that goalkeepers are only as good as their last game – and that Australia face their biggest test yet in England.
“I guess the last couple of days have been a pretty big whirlwind for me,” she said on Tuesday. “Obviously I have not received attention like that [before], but at the same time I just tend to block it out because I know if I play like shit tomorrow it could be a whole different attention on me.”
Arnold, 29, began her career in the W-League, with two separate stints at Perth Glory plus seasons at Canberra United, Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar. She made her Matildas debut in 2012, at just 18, but found herself behind Williams and Melissa Barbieri in the national team pecking order. This is Arnold’s third World Cup, alongside two Olympics, but her first as undisputed No 1 – having seen her star rise after moving to West Ham in 2020.
The spot-kick success against France was just the icing on the cake of a strong World Cup showing from Arnold, who has looked confident in her area, played an important role in the Matildas’ distribution out from the back and made big saves when required. It is a remarkable transformation from the goalkeeper who looked at risk of losing their spot in the starting XI when the Matildas were pummelled 7-0 by Spain last year – and indeed Williams did briefly regain the gloves.
Along with her regular minutes for West Ham, Arnold has credited Matildas goalkeeping coach Tony Franken for helping her return to the starting line-up. Franken has been a long-time presence around Australian national teams – one newspaper recently described him as the “godfather of Australian goalkeeping”.
On Tuesday, with Arnold sat alongside Matildas head coach Tony Gustavsson at the pre-match press conference, there was a poignant moment when Australian goalkeeping royalty Mark Schwarzer asked about Franken’s role. Schwarzer worked with Franken during his own playing career – including the iconic 2005 shootout win over Uruguay, which sent the Socceroos to the men’s World Cup for the first time in decades. The similarities between that moment and Arnold’s career-defining saves on Saturday were lost on no-one in the room.
“He’s been massive in my development,” Arnold said. “Of course on the field, but also off the field. When I wasn’t starting, he could see the disappointment within me and he made sure I was focused and ready to take my chance when it came. I’m really thankful for him. I knew he always believed in me, I could really feel he wanted me to play and he wanted me to take that chance. It feels good to play well, but to see the pride on his face when I come off the field having played well is second to none.”
But for all the sentimentality, for all the buzz around Arnold’s penalty heroics, the goalkeeper knows that another big shift is required on Wednesday night. Whether the match is decided in 90 minutes or again goes to extra-time and another shootout, Arnold’s steadfastness in goal will be a critical part of any Matildas success.
The goalkeeper’s heroics on Saturday may have been anticipated by her teammates, but they were nonetheless awed by her ability to rise to the occasion. They will be hoping for more of the same at Stadium Australia. “For her to do it on that stage, under that pressure, is absolutely amazing,” said Yallop. “We’re lucky to have her in goal.”
