“Iis what you want to play for, “says Lydia Williams, shrugging. Williams, one of Arsenal’s two new Australian signings, is calmly discussing their first game for the club. Rather than a nice and friendly person to whom making their way, she and Steph Catley arrived in North London at the most curious moment. Instead, they are training for the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals postponed on Saturday against Paris Saint-Germain with a team that has not competed in five months It is a testament to their vast experience that they remain completely unmoved.
“You want to play at the highest level in the best competitions,” continues Williams. “I think we both don’t really know what to expect – it’s new. But we’ve been put in so many situations in our career that it’s just taking one step at a time and performing throughout the day. “
As Arsenal are also aiming to return to the top two in the WSL, the pair’s experience will likely be key this year. Williams, two-time Australian Footballer of the Year, is a 32-year-old goalkeeper with 88 appearances from Melbourne City. Catley, 26, is a full-back with 82 appearances from Reign FC and Melbourne City. Both players know Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro well, having both worked with him in Melbourne.
“I think my favorite thing about him is that he’s a very good football coach tactically,” says Catley. “It puts on an extraordinary session, you are always ready for every match. In this sense he is a great coach but I think that, more importantly, he is an excellent manager of people: he cares about the person and not just the player. I think it’s really rare for a coach at this kind of level. You don’t find it often. “
A certain trend continues to grow. Williams and Catley follow their new teammate Caitlin Foord and Sam Kerr to Chelsea as high-profile Australians to arrive in the capital in the last year. The decision to compete in the WSL touches on many themes, starting with the effect that last year’s World Cup had on how they see their career.
“There was a real change in the teams we were up against and in the way the Europeans played,” says Catley. “They were very smart, very technical and very tactical. There were teams we didn’t expect much from that had leveled up. It was a big revelation for us – that’s where we need to be if we want to develop and add things to our game that we didn’t already have playing in America. “
One of the curiosities of Australian football is that its best players often compete in the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States before being loaned to Australian teams during the off-season. It allows them to help their national league grow, but of course there is an inner conflict at stake. While they desperately want to help at home, competing all year round comes at a significant cost.
“It’s pretty brutal,” says Catley. “Most of our national team have probably done it in the last six or seven years. It definitely builds up and gives you no chance of a break, no chance to cool off or have a real preseason. “
In a sense, then, moving to England is a decision to bet on yourself and to prioritize your own development. “I think that’s where you want to be as a footballer, to be able to focus on just one team and put all your effort into it [into it]”Says Williams.” It’s a small thing, but to be able to unpack and settle down on the spot, knowing you don’t have to get up and leave after four months or six months. Many of us have had to do this in the past two years and it’s just as amazing as you are. be upset. “
By making sure they get the best conditions to improve, they automatically offer Australia a better chance of success with the Olympics and a home World Cup on the horizon. “I think many of us realize that for ourselves individually but also with the Matilda it was important to have new experiences and also to start really taking care of our body. It helps make sure we get that break so we can reset and prepare for a proper season and then hopefully come back stronger and better prepared for the next major tournaments.
The Matildas were ranked as Australia’s most popular national sports team in a poll last year. For many of their current players, the visibility of women’s football is unrecognizable from their youth. Catley grew up playing soccer with the kids from her neighborhood and it wasn’t until she was given a trial with a women’s representative team in Victoria at age 11 that she discovered there was a path for her. as a soccer player.
“I actually started crying, screaming at the top of my lungs, because I thought that meant the boys’ team didn’t want me anymore,” he says. “My coach explained to me that it was a very good thing and it could lead to this, to this and to Matilda. I didn’t feel it was an option before that day. “
For Williams, the disconnect was even more profound. She is a sporting icon in her country, having grown up in Kalgoorlie, a small mining town in Western Australia, to an American mother and indigenous Australian father. Born into a missionary family, they spent a month a year traveling to communities in the bush to preach and help poor families. Williams’ first love was Australian football. When her family moved to Canberra, it wasn’t an option at school, so she chose the closest sport possible, football, and never looked back. “It was definitely a unique childhood,” he says. “It’s pretty crazy that’s how I’ve lived for a while.”
This week Williams and Catley are hoping to try something else again by playing in the Champions League. It’s a challenge they seem ready for and PSG should pay attention.
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