Australia star Mary Fowler showing poise beyond her years

When Mary Fowler stepped up to take a penalty on Saturday, the Matildas’ quarter-final was on a knife-edge, with France holding a slight advantage. Fowler was taking Australia’s fourth penalty – had she missed, the French would take a critical advantage into the final pair of attempts.

The pressure on the shoulders of the 20-year-old could not have been greater, in her first shootout in competitive football. Fowler walked slowly to the mark and stared down France goalkeeper Solène Durand. She bounced the ball like a basketballer, once, twice. The Manchester City player walked a few steps backwards before pausing to draw in a deep breath. She exhaled – this was it. A step forward, then another – almost prancing. And then she smashed the ball low and hard towards the left corner. Durand went the wrong way, but she never had any chance. It was a perfect penalty.

The kick epitomised Fowler’s maturity, which belies her youth as the youngest member of this Matildas squad. “Mary Fowler is not even a child,” laughed captain and sometimes striker partner Sam Kerr after the match. “She’s one of the most amazing players in our team. She’s 20 years old, she has a head on her like she’s 30, and been around for 100 years.” 

The plaudits flowed from coach Tony Gustavsson too. “She plays beyond her years in terms of maturity,” he said. “She understands her defending role, she can spin on a dime in terms of her technique, talking about entertainment her technical skills are just one of a kind.”

Fowler was born in Cairns, in Australia’s far north, to an Irish father and a Papua New Guinean mother. She is the second oldest of five football-mad siblings – her brother Caoimhin and sister Ciara have both trained with the Irish youth national