{"id":318979,"date":"2023-07-26T09:53:57","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T09:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=318979"},"modified":"2023-07-26T12:58:29","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T12:58:29","slug":"matildas-skippers-emotional-tribute-to-late-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=318979","title":{"rendered":"Matildas skipper's emotional tribute to late father"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acting Matildas<\/a> captain Steph Catley has shared a touching tribute to her late father, Stephen on Instagram ahead of Australia's second group match at the FIFA Women's World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Catley posted a collage of family photos to her Instagram story on Wednesday to mark a further year without her dad.<\/p>\n

"Another year passes, another chance to remember and \ufeffmiss you," she wrote.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Matildas respond to 'unreal' World Cup injury crisis<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> RLPA boss's live TV clash with Karl Stefanovic over 'selfish' claims<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Goalkeeper sues A-League club for $500,000<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The 29-year-old lost her father suddenly five years ago.<\/p>\n

\"Steph<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThe timing of it is quite unique," Catley told the media on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

"Going through a (big tournament) like this is obviously massive for (the) family as well, so it does make you think about people that have passed (away)."<\/p>\n

Standing in as the team's skipper with captain Sam Kerr ruled out of Australia's opening two matches with a calf injury<\/a>, Catley reflected on how proud her dad would be of the achievement.<\/p>\n

"I've had a lot of messages today from family and friends saying that he would be very proud and he would have absolutely loved to see what I'm doing now and what our team is doing," she said.<\/p>\n

"He would be cheering very loudly and watching on, definitely."<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,<\/p>\n

It was Catley's composure that lead Australia to a 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland<\/a> last Thursday night.<\/p>\n

The versatile defender converted from the spot in the 52nd minute to put the Matildas ahead – where they stayed for the remainder of the match despite a nervous final 20 minutes.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffWith four goals to her name from her 111 caps for Australia, Catley described the penalty as "the most important" goal of her career.<\/p>\n

"Not much was going through my head," she said when asked what she was thinking before the shot.<\/p>\n

"I tried to just calm myself down and think about where I wanted to place (the ball). I try to think about it as if it's just a set piece. I take a lot of corners, a lot of free kicks, so I just went through the same process. I picked my spot and I hit it where I hoped to hit it."<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acting Matildas captain Steph Catley has shared a touching tribute to her late father, Stephen on Instagram ahead of Australia's second group match at the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":318981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318979"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=318979"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318984,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318979\/revisions\/318984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/318981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=318979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=318979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=318979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}