Carpenter pleased to pass Matildas ‘baby’ baton to Fowler

At the tender age of 19, Matildas mainstay Ellie Carpenter is happy to pass on the ‘baby of the squad’ tag to 16-year-old striker Mary Fowler as the right-back heads into her first FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Carpenter

Ellie Carpenter in action for Australia Source: Getty Images

With 31 caps and AFC Asian Cup and Olympic Games appearances already behind her, the kid from the tiny NSW town of Cowra has already covered some serious territory in her exploding career. 

But being the eternal youngster is one label she is happy to shed, with wonder teen Fowler pipping Kyah Simon for a place in Ante Milicic’s squad for France where Jamaica, Italy and old foes Brazil await in the group stage next month.

“With Mary coming in it will be nice not to be the youngest anymore ... I’ve been kinda getting a bit sick of it,” chuckled Carpenter before heading into camp in Turkey to fine-tune preparations with the rest of the squad.

Carpenter had the likes of Caitlin Foord, Sam Kerr and Emily van Egmond — who all burst into the scene in their teens — to learn from when she entered the Matildas’ inner sanctum.

And she’ll be more than happy to lend Fowler any advice she can as she makes her own journey.

“She’s extremely talented, strong and fast,” she said.

“She knows how to finish also and I think she’ll make a big impact with our team. She’s got so much promise at such a young age.”

Carpenter’s own impact since her debut back in 2016 cannot be overstated, with the lightning-quick right-back’s durability and speed ensuring her name on every team sheet.

She expresses a feeling of excitement rather nerves going into a tournament the Matildas believe they can win under the leadership of Milicic, who took charge after the messy axing of his predecessor Alen Stajcic.

“Everyone is loving the new coach ... he’s brought with him a change of vibe,” added Carpenter.

“There is great professionalism in the camp and everybody is enjoying him and his coaching style. We think he can take us a long way in the World Cup.

“When I came into the team (three years ago) there were few other young players also and players coming in and out. “I think this squad is the most settled I’ve seen and we have a fair bit of depth.

“I think we have a good shot at it (the World Cup). 

“There’s that belief amongst us that we can go all the way.”

With just one warm-up game remaining - next Saturday’s clash with European Champions Netherlands in Eindhoven - Carpenter believes lessons from last month’s 5-3 friendly loss to the USA will be heeded.

“I think we can learn a lot from what happened in the America game,” added the defender who splits her time between Canberra in the W-League and Portland Thorns in the NWSL, where fellow Matildas Foord and Hayley Raso are teammates.

“it was our first big really game under our new coach and there a lot things we can work on and things we can fix.

“We don’t have quite as much depth at the back as up front and it’s an area we need to put extra work into.”


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3 min read
Published 26 May 2019 3:07pm
By Dave Lewis
Source: SBS The World Game

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