It’s fair to say that Mary McAteer’s start to life with Wales has been beyond exciting.
Making her debut away in San Jose against the USA, followed by another substitute appearance in Sinsheim away to Germany are baptisms of fire to say the least! Llanelli may be a far cry from the sunshine of California, but it is a place that will hold a lot of memories for McAteer.
Against Ukraine last month, the Sunderland striker made her first start for Wales. Standing proudly between Lily Woodham and Ffion Morgan, McAteer was able to belt out Hen Wlad fy Nhadau for the first time, a moment that she will cherish for the rest of her career.
“It’ll definitely go down as one of my favourite ever memories. Walking out, singing the anthem, seeing my family, and it’ll be something I’ll keep with me forever. It was bittersweet because we didn’t get the result that we wanted, but it won’t take anything away from that experience for me personally.”
Having now made four appearances in the red of Wales, it’s fair to say McAteer is becoming a familiar name to fans up and down the country. No doubt starts will boost her confidence, and she is very much hoping to accumulate as many caps as she can.
“The more camps you come on as a young player and the more you come into the environment, the more confident you get. Whether you’re on the pitch or off the pitch, you’re just getting familiar with the players and staff, because everything is always changing a little bit.
“It’s always good to get on the pitch, to get touches, get shots away, get forward, and all of that feeds into a player’s confidence.”
Against powerhouses like the USA and Germany, it can be incredibly difficult for a player, especially as young as McAteer, to gain any semblance of confidence. This time around, it was different, and the forward was far calmer.
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“I think because I had more time to prepare, I was a lot calmer ahead of that Ukraine game compared to the ones against the USA and Germany. It was a moment where I knew my jobs, I knew my roles, and I had everyone’s backing in the lead up to the game.
“It was a special moment, but I felt completely calm within that. It was a shame we couldn’t play like we wanted to play, but we’ve reflected on it and worked on it.”
The only blemish on that first start was the result. A 1-1 draw against Ukraine at Parc y Scarlets certainly didn’t excite the Red Wall, and McAteer knows full well that the game and the performance wasn’t at the levels the squad have come to expect from themselves.
It now leaves Cymru in a tricky but clear position; win both games and they will finish top of the group and guarantee an “easier” path in the first round of the playoffs. McAteer says the team have a job to do, and they are determined to get it done.
“We know we could have done better last camp. We’ve reflected on that as a team and individually. We know that we essentially need two wins out of this camp. That’s our goal, we want to top this group, and that’s what we’re going to go and do.
“Rhian spoke about it not being the camp we wanted, but the camp we needed, and it really does ring true. Those games forced us to be resilient, especially in that second game because it felt like a loss.”
Now the squad are preparing for their first game of this camp, which is away to Croatia in the city of Karlovac, situated an hour outside of Zagreb. The sun will certainly be shining on Friday, as temperatures are set to hit an eyebrow raising 36°C.
McAteer has been preparing for that by going on holiday to Croatia (totally coincidental), but she knows the team have to raise their levels back to where they were in April if they are to pick up maximum points from the fixture.
“That’s the way football is. We came in absolutely flying in those first two games, but we always knew in the back of our minds we had to build up that resilience. We wanted to get two wins against Ukraine, and it is frustrating that we didn’t, but it’s given us a real target for these two games coming up. We will keep on pushing.”
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