Matildas star faces long wait

A GOLD Coast homecoming is normally cause for celebration for Matildas star Tameka Yallop but right now it feels more like a nightmare.

Already reeling from the emotion of a 4-3 defeat to the USA in the bronze medal match in Tokyo, Yallop was then rocked by the revelation she would not be able to return to New Zealand.

Yallop, 30, bid farewell to wife Kirsty and daughter Harley to join the Matildas in camp in Sweden prior to the Olympics, with every intention of returning to NZ after Tokyo.

Despite being eligible for a travel exemption into NZ, a lack of quarantine places left Yallop unable to enter the country.

“When it started to get a little bad in Sydney we were monitoring the situation while at the Olympics … but when I left NZ I did have every intention of returning,” Yallop said.

“The worst case was I would have to quarantine in NZ when I got there. As things got worse it became evident that I probably wouldn’t actually be allowed to get back in.”

As the Matildas rode the rollercoaster in Tokyo that ended agonisingly short of a medal, Yallop was battling her own emotional highs and lows.

“It did make things stressful and it was playing on my mind a bit but at the end of the day it’s kind of hard to control that,” she said.