There is nothing quite like the pressure of a penalty shootout in the knockout phase of the World Cup. The Matildas know that all too well. Four years ago, on a warm summer’s evening not far from the French Mediterranean coastline, Australia’s encounter with Norway had finished level after 120 minutes.
It was almost midnight, and the humid air inside the Stade de Nice was laden with tension. The Norwegians won the coin toss to shoot first. The team’s No 10, Caroline Graham Hansen, stepped up to the mark, facing down Matildas veteran Lydia Williams. Graham Hansen held the ball for what felt like an eternity, while Williams moved slowly from side to side, just 11 metres of grass behind them.
German referee Riem Hussein pointed to the spot. Graham Hansen took a few steps back, and then a few more. Williams’s wiggle intensified, hoping to distract the penalty-taker. But when the shot came it was clinical – Williams dived to her right, Graham Hansen calmly dispatched to the left corner.
It was an inauspicious start for the Australians and it would soon get worse. Captain Sam Kerr walked to the spot and placed the ball down. She then walked back before charging towards Norwegian goalkeeper Ingrid Hjelmseth. The resulting shot was too hard and too wide – it skied towards the crowd. The Matildas looked visibly deflated, their World Cup on a knife-edge.
Guro Reiten was next; Williams again went the wrong way. Australia’s Emily Gielnik followed, her well-placed ball met by a diving Hjelmseth. Steph Catley would calmly convert her penalty, but it was too little, too late. Four successful penalties in a row for Norway sent them to the quarter-final before Australia’s fourth and fifth taker had a chance to walk towards the box.
On Monday, halfway around the world from that nightmare in Nice, the Matildas again find themselves in the round of 16 against Scandinavian opposition. The loss to Norway was the Matildas’ only penalty shootout at a World Cup. Will another come against Denmark at Stadium Australia?
“I don’t feel much pressure with penalties, I feel quite comfortable,” Matildas goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold said this week. “I’ve been involved in a couple of penalty shootouts at a high level with the Asian Cup and thankfully successfully.” The Matildas beat Thailand on penalties in the semi-final of the 2018 Asian Cup, with Arnold saving three consecutive attempts.
“Historically, we haven’t gone too well in penalties, luck hasn’t usually been on our side with that,” Arnold said. “But we’ve been practising and I’ve been talking with my coaches, just getting little things right for penalties.”
The potential penalty-takers insisted they too are feeling confident if a deadlocked game necessitates a shootout. Interim captain Steph Catley has taken and converted two penalties already this tournament. Kerr, a regular penalty-taker for the team, is expected to be fit to return against Denmark. Coach Tony Gustavsson has also repeatedly cited Kyah Simon’s penalty taking credentials, as she moves closer to a return from injury.
“Hopefully we finish the job in the 90 minutes so it doesn’t come to it – that’s our plan,” midfielder Hayley Raso said on Friday. “But if it does come down to it, if I’m called upon, then yes. We’ve all been practising our routines and what we do, I think whoever is called upon will be able to step up to take the pen.”
It is not only the attacking members of the squad who might be given the nod in those crucial moments. “It is the responsibility of every player that you want to be able to show up for your team and step up,” defensive stalwart Alanna Kennedy said. “Definitely that’s something that if you asked everyone, we’ll all be able to take one – that’s our job, to step up in big moments. I’ll be ready to take one if need be.”
If the moment does come against Denmark, or later in the tournament if the Matildas defeat the Danes on Monday, another shootout will be an immense psychological test for the Australians. Can they throw off the shackles of that night in Nice? And will it be Sam Kerr who steps forward to take the critical opening penalty?
The Matildas’ number one goalkeeper remains level-headed at the prospect. “Penalties are 50-50,” the straight-talking Arnold said. “If you save it, you save it; if you don’t, you don’t. I don’t feel much pressure.”
