{"id":370352,"date":"2024-02-24T10:24:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T11:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=370352"},"modified":"2024-02-24T12:03:16","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T12:03:16","slug":"what-i-wanted-dream-return-for-retired-tilly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=370352","title":{"rendered":"'What I wanted': Dream return for retired Tilly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six years after she last appeared in the green and gold for the Matildas<\/a>, Michelle Heyman etched her name into the history books with her shock retirement comeback.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old's 73rd minute goal helped the Matildas to a 3-0 victory over Uzbekistan in the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament\ufeff, as the Paris 2024 dream remains well alive.<\/p>\n

The Matildas\ufeff shook off freezing conditions at Bunyodkor Stadium in Uzbekistan to take the commanding victory, with superstar Mary Fowler's late goal, followed by Caitlin Foord's, icing the victory.<\/p>\n

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It was pure magic from Canberra United striker Heyman, who, after just seven minutes on the pitch, handed the Matildas a crucial lead\ufeff, heading a goal into the net.<\/p>\n

Heyman's goal, followed by Fowler and Foord's scintillating finish, combined for a 12 minute blitz late in the match.<\/p>\n

\"Michelle<\/p>\n

"I am so happy. It's nice to be back playing with the girls," Heyman said post match.<\/p>\n

"It's what I wanted and I'm so happy to get it done.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

Former Australian footballer Andy Harper heaped praise on Heyman, who looked comfortable returning to the big time.<\/p>\n

"It's terrific to see Michelle back doing her thing," Harper said on Paramount post match.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheMatildas\/status\/1761346939969589494<\/a><\/p>\n

Harper declared that Heyman's addition also gives Fowler a fresh licence to in front of goal.<\/p>\n

"That frees up Mary Fowler to find some more freedom and flow\ufeff\ufeff," he said.<\/p>\n

Heyman got a shock call-up from Australian coach Tony Gustavsson for the team's Olympic qualifiers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Heyman revealed a stigma around mental health forced her to retire from Matildas<\/a> duties in 2019, before making her comeback as a result of a serious knee injury to Sam Kerr<\/a> which, ironically, is the same way she earned a debut in 2010.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Caitlin<\/p>\n

The victory wasn't easy, but the side's second half made up for their sluggish start in two degree conditions.<\/p>\n

"The shooting boots weren't on tonight … but as the game was unfolding, there was never any doubt that the team was going to prevail\ufeff," Harper said.<\/p>\n

With the second leg against Uzbekistan \ufeffset for Melbourne's Marvel Stadium next Wednesday, Heyman's new found confidence may be the inspiration her teammates need to qualify for Paris 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six years after she last appeared in the green and gold for the Matildas, Michelle Heyman etched her name into the history books with her […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":370354,"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\/370352"}],"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=370352"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370357,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370352\/revisions\/370357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/370354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}