It was the moment Siobhan Chamberlain had been anticipating for what seemed like an eternity but was starting to fear might never happen.
When a member of England’s medical staff tending the prone Karen Bardsley started rotating his hands, the Arsenal goalkeeper could hardly believe it. The second half of the Lionesses’ 2-1 World Cup quarter-final win against Canada in Vancouver on Sunday had barely begun and Chamberlain knew her big chance had finally arrived.
That universal signal that a substitute is required had the 31-year-old leaping off the bench and nearly four weeks into her third World Cup finals, making her first appearance in international football’s showpiece tournament.
As a good friend of Bardsley, Chamberlain was concerned about the allergic reaction which caused the first-choice England goalkeeper’s eyes to swell up alarmingly, seriously impairing her vision. Yet with a semi-final place at stake and a hostile 54,000-strong crowd to perform in front of at a packed BC Place stadium she could afford to think solely of herself.
An assured display from Mark Sampson’s second-choice goalkeeper has left Chamberlain in strong contention to face Japan in Edmonton on Wednesday night as Bardsley struggles to fully recover.
Happily the latter was deemed well enough to fly to Edmonton with Sampson’s squad yesterday but her condition had been sufficiently serious to necessitate a post-match trip to hospital where a specialist examined her.
“There’s still time for Bards to fully recover,” says Chamberlain, “but, as a keeper, you’ve always got to be ready regardless and it will be the same if I’m needed against Japan.
“ They’re an excellent side, very technical, they’re the World Cup holders and they’ve done well in this tournament. We had a couple of their players at Arsenal last year in Yukari Kinga and Shinobu Ohno and they were both fantastic. It should be an exciting game.”
After so much sitting around on international benches down the years, her adrenaline levels are suddenly surging. “I did enjoy coming on against Canada,” Chamberlain says. “It’s a strange one because you’re coming into a situation which maybe you shouldn’t enjoy because there’s so much pressure on you, but I loved it – I didn’t feel nervous at all. The situation just took me over and I embraced the opportunity. To get to a World Cup semi-final for the first time is amazing. Everyone’s chuffed to bits.”
Creditably Chamberlain contained her emotions, much to Canada’s chagrin, by completing a mini warm-up before replacing Bardsley. “I thought ‘Well, they can’t start the game without me,’ so I took my time,” she says. “If I’d started rushing or panicking I wouldn’t have been in a good place.”
It helped that she had been forewarned of the possibility of being called to arms. “As we came out for the second half Karen mentioned to me that she had a problem,” says the 5ft 11in keeper. “But I’d warmed up anyway during half-time because, in our position, you know anything can happen at any point in any game. As a goalkeeper you’ve got to make sure you’re always properly prepared.”
As befits the great rotator of the women’s game, Sampson has now used 22 out of his complement of 23 players at Canada 2015. Chamberlain’s dramatic entrance leaves Carly Telford, the third-choice goalkeeper, as the odd one out. “Last man standing,” joked a resigned Telford as her team-mates teased her in the aftermath of the Canada victory.
Although worried about Bardsley, Casey Stoney was delighted to see such a long-serving understudy finally enjoy a moment in the sun. “We’ve shown it’s a massive squad effort,” says the veteran centre-half who initially sat alongside Chamberlain, an Arsenal team-mate, on the bench. “Seeing Shiv coming on and doing well after all the sacrifices she’s made was beyond words.”
