History beckons for Matildas after shaking quarter-final hoodoo

Before Friday night, Teagan Micah was just a footballer. And not a particularly famous one, either. She’s been mostly a bench-warmer in the W-League – serving as an understudy to older, more renown goalkeepers – and only got her first taste of senior international football in Australia’s final two friendlies before the Olympics.

Today, Micah is a national hero with an international profile and a place in Australian sporting folklore.

Teagan Micah saves apenalty in extra time against Great Britain.Credit:Getty

“I’m trying to keep my feet on the ground, to be fair,” Micah said, the gears in her mind still working hard to process everything that’s just happened. “It’s pretty unreal.”

Sam Kerr hogged all the headlines with her two goals in the Matildas’ famous quarter-final win over Great Britain. But it was Micah, 23, who kept them in it with a performance that invoked the spirit of Mark Schwarzer – the hero on another equally historic night for Australian football.

As the British attacks kept coming, Micah kept turning them away. She produced a total of seven decisive saves – the biggest of the lot, a dive to her left to stop Caroline Weir from converting a dubious penalty that would have put Team GB ahead in extra time.

Even then, a modest Micah suggested at least some of the glory should go to team analyst Marty Judge, whose job it is to pore through hundreds of hours of old tape to find any sort of competitive advantage. It was on his advice that Micah went left, because Weir usually aims right with her penalties.

Australia’s win over Great Britain has put them into their first semi-final of a major global tournament.Credit:Getty

“It worked,” Micah said. “It’s not just me making that save, it’s the staff who also do their homework.”

Now that the euphoria of the result is starting to wash away, as the Matildas shift their focus to their next big challenge, it’s worth pondering the magnitude of what they’ve achieved.

Reaching the semi-finals is not just a fantastic achievement for the Matildas. It is arguably the single greatest achievement by a senior Australian football team at a major international tournament.

Both the Socceroos and Matildas have won continental titles in Asia. But neither team – nor the under-23 Olyroos, for that matter – have ever made it past the quarter-final stage of a truly global competition, like the World Cup or Olympics. Until now. It’s the sort of milestone that can inspire a generation of young footballers, male and female alike.

Vice-captain Steph Catley has been part of the team since 2012 – not long before the explosion of interest in women’s football and the exponential growth of the Matildas’ brand that followed. She ranks Friday night’s win as the best of her career.

“I was thinking about it last night. I haven’t felt like that with this team, ever before,” she said.

“We’ve always had that monkey on our backs about quarter-finals – we’ve never made it further than that. And I just knew that at some stage this team was going to be capable of going further. To actually break that barrier and get into the final four is massive for us. We really have the chance to show what we’re made of on the biggest stage.”

There is no sense that the Matildas are getting carried away with what they’ve done. Some would argue they have over-achieved to get to this point, and have been allowed to ride their luck defensively against wasteful opposition. Sweden, who they’ll face in Monday night’s semi-final, won’t be nearly as charitable in that respect.

Whatever happens, they will be playing off for a medal for the first time in Tokyo. Catley is convinced it can be gold despite the fearsome pedigree of the Swedes, who beat them 4-2 in the group stage and made light work of Japan in their quarter-final.

“Now we’re in the final four, so anything’s possible,” Catley said. “Sweden are an incredible team and they’re flying right now so it’s going to be difficult, but that’s what you get when you get to these stages in tournaments. We’re dreaming big and we believe we can beat anyone on a given day. Gold would be absolutely incredible.”

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