By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – The thought of playing in front of huge crowds at a home World Cup is surreal for Australia’s Clare Polkinghorne, having toiled in the days when women’s soccer rarely made local newspapers.
Australia’s most capped player with 156 appearances, the centre back is set to continue a World Cup journey that began in China in 2007 when the ‘Matildas’ claimed their first ever win at the global tournament with a 4-1 rout of Ghana.
Polkinghorne and goalkeeper Lydia Williams will become Australia’s first five-times World Cup players after making Tony Gustavsson’s 23-woman squad.
With the 2007 squad breaking through to the quarter-finals, then-18-year-old Polkinghorne may have hoped the China tournament could be the catalyst for Australia to wake up and celebrate their top women as much as the men’s Socceroos.
Instead, the buzz died down quickly and the Matildas reverted to obscurity until the next World Cup, playing internationals at near-empty suburban grounds.
“I remember when we played North Korea, I don’t even know how long ago it was, but we played them in like a back field in Brisbane, (in front of) maybe like 100-200 people if we were lucky,” Polkinghorne told reporters in Melbourne.
“That wasn’t that long ago. To where we are now, it’s incredible how far we’ve come.
“It’s an opportunity for us to keep continuing to grow and introduce people to the Matildas.”
Captained by world class striker Sam Kerr, the Matildas no longer need much of an introduction at home.
More than 40,000 people are set to watch them play a World Cup warmup against France at the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne next week, a record crowd for a women’s soccer match in the country.
That record will then be smashed a week later when they play Ireland in their World Cup Group B opener at Sydney’s Stadium Australia, where a crowd of 80,000-plus is expected to watch the game.
Polkinghorne, now 34, has been a rock in Australia’s backline for over a decade but a hamstring strain blighted her 2019 World Cup in France.
Her injury and Australia’s lack of depth in central defence proved costly at the tournament where they were knocked out by Norway in the round of 16.
Sweden-based Polkinghorne has battled a foot injury this year and not played since April but has declared herself fully fit for the tournament co-hosted with New Zealand.
In any event, she has more support if she falls this time round, with Clare Hunt, Alanna Kennedy and Steph Catley all capable centre backs.
Polkinghorne said she had not thought about whether this World Cup would be her last.
“If it was to be my final World Cup, then it’s a really nice way to end it,” she said.
“(I’m) just trying to enjoy everything that comes with it and soaking it in, because it goes really quickly.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
