Fowler makes her Women's World Cup debut on a significant night for the Australian and Irish teams

Fowler makes her Women’s World Cup debut on a significant night for the Australian and Irish teams

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Australia’s Mary Fowler, right, vies for the ball with Ireland’s Ruesha Littlejohn during the Women’s World Cup soccer match between Australia and Ireland at Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, July 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

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Ireland’s Katie McCabe jumps for the ball with Australia’s Mary Fowler, left, during the Women’s World Cup soccer match between Australia and Ireland at Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, July 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

By CLAY WITT

SYDNEY (AP) — So much was happening when Mary Fowler made her Women’s World Cup debut in Australia’s opening win over Ireland.

It just happened to be in front of the biggest crowd ever to watch a women’s soccer match in Australia, a record 75,784. She just happened to be replacing Australia’s all-time leading scorer, Sam Kerr. The country name on the opposing jerseys just happened to be her father’s homeland.

“I feel ready, and everyone feels ready, so whoever is out there you know what you need to do and when you get out there you just play,” Fowler said after Thursday’s 1-0 victory over Ireland, which was making its tournament debut.

The 20-year-old Fowler was a replacement in the starting lineup for star striker Kerr, who was ruled out of the tournament co-host’s opening match because of a calf muscle injury sustained in practice the previous day.

While the news of Kerr’s injury was announced publicly only an hour before kick-off, the team knew about the situation Wednesday night.

“I obviously feel for Sam, because it’s such a big tournament and she means so much to this team and this country,” Fowler said.

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Fowler was born in Cairns in the far northeast of Australia, but played on Ireland’s youth national teams throughout her childhood. She never got a call-up to the Irish senior team.

Having an Irish father allowed her to play for either national team until appearing in a competitive match for one of them.

When she was 15, the Matildas gave her a chance at the senior level and all but secured her allegiance. That match was not a competitive one, so Ireland was still in the mix for Fowler’s representative future. But the Irish federation could not convince her to switch back.

Since then, Fowler has scored 10 goals and earned 38 caps for Australia, with Thursday’s the most significant of those.

Fowler played 84 minutes against Ireland before being replaced by veteran Clare Polkinghorne. She had some skillful dribbling runs past Irish defenders but wasn’t able to create a goal-scoring opportunity for the Matildas like she did in a warmup win the previous week against France.

“It’s nice to be able to put the Aussie jersey on, but feel connected to the Irish side,” Fowler said.

She’s played against Ireland once before, when she scored twice in a 3-2 loss in a 2021 friendly.

Fowler plays her club football for Manchester City in the English Women’s Super League, where she tallied five goals and two assists in 19 games in all competitions this season.

Kerr will be evaluated by team medical experts again after the Matildas’ second group-stage match against Nigeria, meaning there’ll be at least one more game where somebody has to start in her absence.

So Fowler has time to shine, and make a name for herself on the biggest stage of all.

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Clay Witt is a student at the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

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AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports