I have a lot of respect for people that can score a penalty. I have certainly missed my fair share of them. In the Asian Cup final, in 2006, on home soil in Adelaide, we went to penalties against China. Collette McCallum did not convert our first. China nailed theirs. Sally Shippard went next and kept us in the game. Then it was my turn – and I missed.
That is not my fondest memory. It is literally the toss of a coin – the goalkeeper is a huge part of it. If you’ve played for 120 minutes, you can hardly feel your legs. I remember feeling that sensation, I was absolutely spent. But the expectation is that you will score. So when you don’t, particularly in big moments, it hurts. That miss still haunts me today.
