Chance roars as Brisbane eye W-League grand final

Olivia Chance has ditched her life in England for the Roar – and she does feel a bit guilty at times. By

FOOTBALL Ferns midfielder Olivia Chance left her boyfriend, her dog and her life behind in England to play for the Brisbane Roar in Australia’s W-League this summer.

But she’s relished the opportunity to play a key role in their run to the finals series and to live somewhere that has escaped the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns.

The Roar host Melbourne Victory in a semifinal today and will be looking to advance to a grand final against either

Sydney FC or Canberra United.

After that Chance will turn her focus to how to best prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, where she is set to play a big role for New Zealand.

But all the while she will be thinking of her partner, Robert Le Guen, who also works in football, her canine companion, and the country she hopes to return to and play in once the Olympics are said and done, having turned out for Everton, Bristol City and Sheffield United there in recent years.

‘‘It is hard – and it’s not hard for me, unfortunately, it’s harder for him, because he doesn’t have the freedom that I’ve got, he goes to football and he goes home, where I have the ability to go out and have a coffee or go to a cafe´ – it is pretty normal,’’ Chance said.

‘‘It’s also hard with the time difference and fitting things in around both our football commitments, and for him just dealing with the lockdown, which has been going for over a year.

‘‘It’s definitely frustrating and I have to remember that, that I’m able to go out, and he’s not, so I sympathise, and I do feel a bit guilty.’’

Those living in Brisbane temporarily lost their freedom this week, as a new cluster of Covid-19 cases ushered in a brief lockdown, but the Roar were granted an exemption to keep training and restrictions were lifted on Thursday, allowing their home semifinal at Lions

Stadium to go ahead as scheduled.

Chance has started the

Roar’s last eight matches and scored a screamer in their 4-0 win over Perth Glory in February.

She said she had enjoyed the tight-knit nature of the club, which reminded her of the Ferns, and she has found it beneficial training alongside four current Aussie Matildas – Emily Gielik and Clare

Polkinghorne, who have both left for Europe ahead of the finals series, and Katrina Gorry and Tameka Yallop.

‘‘Obviously two of them [Gorry and Yallop] are midfielders, so I think that’s really helped push me on.

‘‘I probably haven’t played with that many national team members before, even at Everton and Bristol, so I think it has actually been really good for me.

‘‘The Matildas are probably a couple of steps ahead of us right now, compared to the Football Ferns, and we need to try and make up that gap as quickly as possible. Playing with them, I can see their level and what we need to do with the Ferns in the coming years as we lead in to the 2023 World Cup.’’

That tournament, to be hosted by New Zealand and Australia, became a lot more real this week, with nine cities – including Auckland, Hamilton,

Wellington, and Dunedin – locked in to host matches. Chance grew up playing for Hamilton club Claudelands Rovers and scored a hat-trick as a 16-year-old and earned MVP honours as they became the first team from outside Auckland to win the National Women’s Knockout Cup (now known as the Kate Sheppard Cup) in 2010.

‘‘If you’re around the Ferns at this time, you just have to be so grateful and feel so fortunate, because how often will you ever get the opportunity to play in such a big event in your home country?’’ she said.

‘‘It doesn’t happen for a lot of players, so it’s definitely a massive opportunity, and it’s one that I really want us to take with both hands. I want us to get our first win. I want us to perform. It’s such a special place and I think that we really, really need to push it, and do better than we have done in previous years.’’

Since recovering from a serious knee injury ahead of the 2019 World Cup, Chance has been a first-choice player for Ferns coach Tom Sermanni, playing almost every minute at that tournament in France and starting three of the five friendlies they’ve played since, while scoring her first goal, against Belgium last March, to boot.

Having only turned 27 in October, she is set to be an important player for the Ferns not only at the Olympics in July, but over the next two years, leading up to the World Cup, and is reaping the benefits of having her coach’s backing.

‘‘I think Tom’s shown a lot of trust in me, especially at the World Cup, and I think that’s always nice – to feel like the coach likes you and supports you and that he thinks that there’s something about you that means he wants to start you,’’ Chance said.

‘‘It really boosts your confidence and a lot of it is confidence. If you’re a confident player, you’re always going to enjoy the game more, you’re going to be happier, and you’ll probably perform better, and I think Tom is a really good player manager.

‘‘He’s just given me belief that I am good enough, and I can kick on, and he just wants me to do what I like to do, to attack and to create opportunities for others to score, and now that I’ve scored one goal, there’s definitely more in there.

‘‘ . . . as you get older and you see more, you want more, and the hunger has definitely come alive since the World Cup.’’

Chance isn’t the only Football Fern involved in the W-League finals, with midfielder Annalie Longo and defender Claudia Bunge lining up opposite her for the Victory.

Striker Paige Satchell will play for Canberra against top qualifiers Sydney FC in the other semifinal tomorrow.

‘If you’re around the Ferns at this time, you just have to be so grateful and feel so fortunate.’ OLIVIA CHANCE, BELOW