Australian football superstar Mary Fowler has copped a media grilling in WA ahead of the Perth International Football Cup.
Fowler, who is representing Manchester City, was rolled out to journalists on Tuesday as her team prepares to take on Leicester on Wednesday at HBF Park.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Mary Fowler opens up on Olympics heartbreak.
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But she quickly found the media were more interested in the Matildas’ Olympics heartbreak, than they were in the English football giants.
As Fowler tried to hype up the tournament, journalists pressed her on the nightmare in Paris.
“It’s hard looking back on the Olympics not to feel disappointed with the results from that,” she said.
“It was obviously a very proud moment being there, second time round, I was really grateful for that experience.
“Definitely still trying to take positives from it as well (but) … umm, I think it is hard when you don’t succeed in the way that you want to.”
She said the result was in some ways “a nice reminder” that you’re not always going to have “really big highs in football”.
“It’s good to take the growth from that and use it moving forwards,” she said.
One journalist asked her if there were “technical” issues withe the team or “psychological”.
“It was probably a bit of both,” she admitted.
“From a personal level, I definitely reflected on how I was mentally.
“It was a different kind of pressure that I’ve dealt with before.
“(But) it’s kind of nice to have those experiences and know that next time when you get into that same situation you will be able to deal with it better.”
After saying she would use the Paris experience “to grow as a player and a person”, she was then asked why things had changed so dramatically for the Matildas in such a short space of time.
The Matildas went from fourth in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia to failing to get out of their group stage at the Olympics.
“I think we definitely worked as hard as we could to prepare for the tournament,” she said.
“I think sometimes football just doesn’t go your way.
“Being at home and having that home advantage, it’s very different playing a home World Cup (compared) to being overseas.
“Sometimes things don’t your way and we definitely reflect on that as a team and I’m sure the girls have done that individually as well.”
In the aftermath of the Paris disaster, Football Australia confirmed that it would not be renewing coach Tony Gustavsson’s contract.
Fowler was asked about Gustavsson and who should replace him, but she was quick to shut it down.
“I actually I don’t know,” she said.
“I haven’t really paid much thought to it.
“I’m very focussed on just what I can control, and what I do as a player.
“I feel we all really want to win something with the national team. Having another opportunity to do that, I think a lot of us will work for the next year and a bit to try and get it done.”
