Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Alex Chidiac was certain she would not be selected in the Matildas squad for the Asian Cup. In fact, she was so removed from the mere prospect of a call-up for the tournament in Australia this month, the Italy-based midfielder made other plans.
“For this camp, I had one of my best friends from Australia fly over because I was convinced I wasn’t going,” says Chidiac. “So I left her in Italy.”
She left her friend in Italy because she got a call from Joe Montemurro that left her in such disbelief the Matildas coach asked, “Did you think I was just calling you as a mate?”
Montemurro is a mate of sorts, in that he coached the 27-year-old when she was 16 and recruited her to his Melbourne City side in 2015. That was a long time ago, but the pair have kept in touch intermittently while on divergent paths. Montemurro’s took him to Arsenal, Juventus and Lyon before joining Australia’s national team.
And Chidiac’s? Prepare yourself.
Adelaide United, Melbourne City, Adelaide United, Atletico Madrid, Melbourne City, Japan’s JEF United Chiba Ladies, Melbourne Victory, America’s Racing Louisville, Melbourne Victory, Mexico’s Tigres Femenil, Melbourne Victory and, finally, Italy’s FC Como.
Alex Chidiac warms up with Mary Fowler during Matildas training in Perth on Saturday.Credit: Getty Images
A journeywoman, if you will. And the journey has been fraught with setbacks and false starts abroad which, in turn, have contributed to an inconsistent international career featuring 37 appearances over 12 years – many off the bench. “There have,” she concurs, “been a lot of other instances where I’ve planned trips or holidays, and then I get called into camp last minute. I don’t think I’ll ever feel like I’ve really got a spot in this team.”
It was the focus of that video call with Montemurro, the one surprising enough to make her eyebrows dance.
“On a personal level – outside of football – I’d been going through a pretty rough time, and he was quite aware of that and quite supportive with it,” Chidiac says. “Just the appreciation of the hard work that it really took to be able to make a squad like this.”
What it took was one last stab at the thing she’d always wanted: playing regularly for a club overseas.
“It’s been really difficult because I’ve gone over, I’ve never been able to play my position, or I just sit on the bench,” she says. “Something I really wanted to do before my career ended was actually play consistently at a club overseas. I had always dreamed of playing in Italy, so when an Italian club came up it was a bit of a sign.
“Some might call me crazy for trying so many times but, at the end of the day, everywhere I have gone has given me a whole new different perspective and a different view on football.
“I’ve had to learn a lot of skills and develop that over the years. I have a really great psychologist who helps me with that too, who I’ve had since I was 18.”
That work has helped Sydney-born Chidiac – a Matildas cult favourite – view her career from a new perspective.
“Ultimately, when I was younger, I never really dreamed of playing for the Matildas because there wasn’t that visibility back then,” she says. “I wanted to play for the Chelsea men’s team – that was then quickly shattered.
“But I realised that, honestly, as long as I’ve got a ball at my feet, I’m happy. So a lot of the time when I was in Mexico, the US, Spain and Japan I would take myself somewhere and just kick a ball against a wall. That would help remind me that it’s actually a game, it’s fun, and it’s a privilege to be able to do this for a living.”
That simple privilege evolved into the ultimate goal after winning her second Julie Dolan Medal after a standout last A-League Women season with Victory, earning Chidiac a move to the Serie A (and Victory a record transfer fee).
Game time at Como has been regular, and she has not had to mentally bargain with herself: that even though she doesn’t truly feel a part of the team she can learn about another culture or develop in some other way.
“Getting to play regularly is almost as good as being back in the national team because it is something I was only ever able to achieve at A-League level,” she says. “Now I’ve proven to myself I can do that in a club and in a top league overseas.”
This achievement was so monumental that a potential Matildas return did not even figure. Chidiac’s last camp was Montemurro’s first, for last July’s home friendly series, with nothing in the interim.
“From that point, I went over to Italy and was just focusing on trying to build my way into the team there, so I was quite distracted and very focused on that,” she says. “By the time this came around, I really had zero expectations. So that phone call was a big shock and a big surprise. But in saying that, I have been working really hard at club. So it’s a very nice reward.”
