A starstruck and emotional Matildas squad has been urged by Australian sporting legend Cathy Freeman to “do it for yourself” fairly than be weighed down by the expectations of a nation in attempting to win the FIFA Women’s World Cup on house soil.
Much to the shock and delight of the Matildas, Sydney 2000 Olympic Games 400m gold medallist Freeman – a hero of a number of of the gamers – visited them lately in Melbourne.
And if the Matildas wanted any extra inspiration to be topped world champions subsequent month, Freeman offered it,
“A lot of girls were very emotional,” Matildas veteran Aivi Luik stated forward of Australia’s opening match of the match towards Ireland on Thursday night time in Sydney.
“I still can’t believe that happened because a couple years ago, we were going through some questions about who your sporting hero is and why, and over half the team said that Cathy Freeman was their hero.
“The staff, because of that, tried to get her in, and bless her heart, she came in.
“She doesn’t do a lot of public speaking but she did that for us. We asked her questions informally and she spoke back to us just like she was a friend, and we got a lot of good insight from that.”
What caught with Luik essentially the most from chatting with Freeman was for the Matildas to consider themselves in attempting to win the World Cup.
“She told us was that we know who we are, we know why we do this, and while we want to perform and give results for others outside the circle, at the end of the day, you believe in yourself and you do it for yourself,” Luik stated.
“All athletes do what they do because they love the sport, and (Freeman said) to not lose track of that, and that gives you the confidence to go out there and do your job.”
Luik was nonetheless in awe of Freeman having the ability to deal with the “weight of the nation” on her troopers when competing as a person athlete on the Olympics 23 years in the past,
“She was just one and we’re a whole team, so I think we’re quite lucky in that regard that we have our friends and teammates there to support each other,” Luik stated,
“We came away from that feeling a little bit of a weight off our shoulders, and just completely inspired.”
At 38 and having come out of worldwide retirement early final yr on the request of Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson, Luik stated being chosen for a World Cup being co-hosted by Australia was the “greatest achievement and opportunity” of her profession.
“Any player would dream about going to a World Cup, and representing their country first and foremost, but to do both of those things on home soil – it’s incredible,” she stated.
“It’s not even a dream because we wouldn’t have dreamt it earlier, but now it’s happening and it’s just incredible.
“Two years ago, I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be sitting here today but it’s a complete blessing.
“We’re truly honoured, and we want to just take this opportunity, and do the best with it as we can.”
Originally revealed as Cathy Freeman urges Matildas to ‘do it’ for themselves on the FIFA Women’s World Cup
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
