Mackenzie Arnold has become an Australian hero in the space of just a few weeks, the Matildas goalkeeper drawing plenty of fans with her incredible performances between the sticks at this World Cup – especially for her penalty shootout heroics against France.
From memes describing her as a ‘brick wall’ to fans dedicating a street named ‘Arnold Court’ after her, the reserved No.1 has been thrust into the limelight since Saturday’s historic win.
But asked about the extra attention she’s received, Arnold had the perfect response.
“I guess the last couple of days have been a pretty big whirlwind for me,” she told reporters 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 s**t tomorrow it could be a whole different attention on me.”
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Arnold made three saves in the shootout, but hit the post with her own attempt.
She revealed on Tuesday that the decision to take the fifth penalty of the shootout wasn’t hers to make.
“It wasn’t my call!,” she proclaimed.
“We just had a conversation before penalties came up. Tony mentioned I would be fifth. He asked if I was happy to take it, I said yes.”
“I think if it went in we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” she added wryly.
But she said she was more than happy to take another penalty should it come up.
“I am ready if I have to take one tomorrow, hopefully I don’t,” the 29-year-old added.
“But, yeah, the penalty order was called upon with me in the fifth in the line, and I wanted to try and do my job for the team. Unfortunately, in that specific incident I didn’t, but I always want to do my job for the team. So if has to happen again, yes I will be ready.”
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The FA has confirmed it is working with FIFA to review its ticketing process after Matildas supporters claimed to have seized tickets reserved for England fans using a Lioness access code.
A report from The Telegraphclaims people shared a ticket code meant specifically for England fans on social media, with the news quickly reaching keen Australians.
An official England supporters’ allocation of just under 2,000 tickets is said to have been released before Wednesday’s game. A code is needed to purchase tickets in that area.
One fan claimed on social media: “If they announce any “extra tix”, type in the access code “lioness” and you’ll be able to get access to England zone. They’ve done it twice now. A group of us got 10 tickets in that section”.
“My friend said there was an announcement about extra tickets. The code is “lioness”. I went in yesterday to see if there’s any tickets left and there isn’t, but the WC ticket group I’m in have said 2 separate times that lioness code has worked,” they added.
An FA spokesman told The Telegraph: “We worked with FIFA to secure an additional allocation of tickets for England’s World Cup Semi-Final against Australia.
“The details of how to purchase these tickets were communicated directly to our fans on our England Football channel, and we are disappointed to see reports that a limited number of these tickets have been accessed by other fans.
“We are working with FIFA to review this ticketing process going forward.”
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It may just be more motivation for England though, with midfielder Keira Walsh telling reporters this week it would be a “very nice feeling” to silence a sell-out Sydney crowd.
The European champions face the co-hosts in front of what promises to be a packed and hostile crowd at the 80,000-capacity Stadium Australia.
There is a long-standing sporting rivalry between England and Australia and neither side has ever reached the final of the Women’s World Cup.
England know the benefits of having a bumper crowd in their corner, having won the European Championship last summer on home soil.
But the Lionesses and Barcelona’s Walsh are now on enemy territory.
“When you have the crowd behind you it gives you that extra push,” said the 26-year-old, who was stretchered off earlier in the tournament with a knee injury but is now back in Sarina Wiegman’s side.
“But I also think that when you are playing against it, when you can quieten the crowd, it’s also a very nice feeling.
“Maybe trying to take the momentum out of (their) game is going to be important. “So there’s positives and negatives to both and I’ve experienced both,” she told reporters.
Walsh said she was aware of talk among fans and media about the rivalry between England and Australia but she is more interested in reaching the final and winning the World Cup.
“For us, it is a semi-final, it is a massive game, regardless of who you are playing,” she said.
“We are all just really focused. A lot of us aren’t really on social media, we are not listening to what’s going on outside.
“That’s what has got us this far at this tournament.”
England are into their third semi-final in a row at the tournament but have never got farther, something Walsh is desperate to fix.
“It is every footballer’s dream to play at a World Cup final so for us that’s the aim and we hope we can get the job done on Wednesday.”
England came into the World Cup as one of the favourites and, having squeezed past Nigeria on penalties in the last 16, they defeated Colombia 2-1 on Saturday to make the last four.
Australia reached their first World Cup semi-final 7-6 on penalties against France.
The Matildas beat England 2-0 away in April to bring the Lionesses’ 30-match unbeaten run to an end.