Mackenzie Arnold is taking her astonishing rise to national hero firmly in her stride.
Australia’s penalty shootout hero against France has been one of the best goalkeepers of the Women’s World Cup, barely six months on from finally locking in her spot as a Matildas starter.
Such is her new-found fame, the No.1 has been tagged in memes of brick walls and even had a street in Melbourne cheekily rebadged in her honour.
But the 29-year-old will put that aside to focus on keeping England goalless in Wednesday night’s semi-final at Stadium Australia.
“The last couple of days have been a pretty big whirlwind for me, probably the first time I’ve received attention like that,” Arnold told reporters.
“But at the same time, I just tend to block it out because I know, to be honest, if I play like s*** tomorrow, it could be a whole different attention on me.
“So I know the good comes with the bad so I’m just trying to take it in my stride and trying to block it out a bit and focus on the game tomorrow for sure.”
Australia have overcome the defensive disasters of Tony Gustavsson’s first days at the helm and gradually turned their back line into a strength.
Bar a 3-2 slip-up against Nigeria, the Matildas have kept a clean sheet in their other four games.
Central defender Clare Hunt’s rapid ascension has been huge, as has Alanna Kennedy’s superb return from a series of injuries, while Steph Catley and Ellie Carpenter are as reliable as ever.
But Arnold stepping up, with guidance from experienced goalkeeping coach Tony Franken, has settled everything.
Franken worked with the Socceroos at the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups.
“He’s been massive in my development, of course on the field, but more so off the field,” Arnold said.
“When I wasn’t playing in that starting role, and he could see the disappointment within me, he really made sure that I was switched on and I was ready to take my chance when it came, which is probably something I didn’t do in the past.
“Of course I wanted to do it for myself but the pride that I see in his face every time I come off the field after a good performance is second-to-none.”
England counterpart Mary Earps has criticised Nike for not selling goalkeeper kits and Arnold hoped it would be sold in the future.
“Obviously it would be really cool to see kids, or anyone really, with the goalkeeper jersey and especially seeing how well goalkeepers have done throughout this whole tournament,” she said.
“In terms of why they don’t sell them I’m not too sure and I haven’t looked too much into it to be honest, I’ve been more focused on the World Cup.”
