Matildas v China LIVE updates: Australia push for place in Asian Cup final
Just before Australia fell deeply in love with the Matildas, Amy Sayer was on tenterhooks.
She missed out on a spot in Tony Gustavsson’s squad for the home Women’s World Cup three years ago, but was told to hang around just in case there was an injury to someone else – or a change of heart about the selection of Kyah Simon, who was picked despite not having fully recovered from an ACL injury.
Sayer probably would have been the one to replace her, or anyone else who suffered a last-minute mishap. But there were none. Gustavsson continued to back Simon – not a good decision, with the benefit of hindsight – and the deadline to make any squad changes then passed, with Sayer on the outer.
Amy Sayer’s academic qualifications are as impressive as her on-field skills.Credit: Getty Images
“I think it was 8pm, the day before they played Ireland for the opening game,” she said. “I had to text our [team] manager and say: ‘OK, so I haven’t got a call yet. Can you send me back to Stanford?’”
That’s Stanford University, one of the top academic colleges in the United States, where Sayer was studying human biology and philosophy – an opportunity she had earned with an ATAR of 99.25 when she sat her HSC in Sydney in 2019. Sayer operates at a higher level, on and off the field; even as she was fighting for World Cup selection, she was studying remotely, taking on extra classes in camp so she could graduate faster and play professionally sooner.
So, as Australia contracted “Matildas Fever”, Sayer was watching along on a laptop in the early hours of the morning in California, having narrowly missed out on being able to feel it all for herself.
“It was bittersweet,” she said. “But duty calls.”
This is why Sayer – now 24, a graduate and a full-time professional with top Swedish club Malmo FF – had targeted this home Asian Cup.
Read the rest of Vince Rugari’s story here.