The unassuming brilliance of Mindy Barbieri

by Jordan Lim 0

A swinging corner makes its way into the Western Sydney Wanderers’ defensive area; 15-year-old MelindaJ Barbieri watches on at the near post as the ball floats over her and towards the edge of the box.

Patiently, the Melbourne Victory forward holds her position as she spots defenders on the line, floating into a two-metre pocket of space on the left byline.

A strange old deflection forward from Alex Natoli from the top of the box puts young Barbieri into prime position inside the area.

One touch to steady before she blasts the ball past keeper and defender from a tight angle.

It was a finish that oozed confidence, but a celebration that offered little in return.

The overly understated figure of Barbieri almost looked apologetic after scoring as if the importance of the goal – to pul back the deficit for the Victory to 2-1 – was lost on her.

Nevertheless, she remained modest in celebration as her teammates mobbed the now fifth youngest W-League goalscorer in history.

Not only modest on the pitch, Mindy was just as much so off it, as she steered the conversation towards the team effort rather than her own personal accolades.

“Definitely [it was a strong game]. I was very happy with the goal,” she said, as those listening waited on her every word.

“Our performance, we did well and I think we deserved the win but we’ll take the draw.”

Given another bite at the cherry to speak up about her wonderful impact on the contest – which the Victory managed to later pull back to 2-2 through Natasha Dowie – Barbieri once more refused to shift the spotlight off the team effort and onto her.

Asked about the disallowed goal in the Melbourne Derby, with maturity beyond her years she replied.

“That’s over and past and we’re here now. I’m happy to have gotten the goal today and to have helped the team out.”

The conversation soon steered straight back to the team performance.

“We all put our hard work in, Dowie put her job in and did what she had to do. We all worked to the best of our ability so couldn’t be happier.

“I have trust in our girls. I knew that we could hold them up for sure. This is our team and we’ve got to have trust in everybody and I certainly do.

“I’m happy with our result and can’t wait till we focus on the next game and we’ll see how we [go].”

Modest to the end was Barbieri, but her more senior teammate in Dowie was more than happy to praise the youngster for her goal-scoring exploits.

“For 15-year-old Mindy to get a goal for the club, I’m obviously over the moon to score my first goal for the club and of course Kat Smith’s first game in charge of the club, it was a great day for many individuals at the Victory,” Dowie said.

With the temptation there to think you’ve ‘made it’ after signing with a professional club, Barbieri is already showing all the true signs of a future household name despite shunning the limelight in favour of modesty.

If it means more performances like that on the weekend, more goals for the Victory and more pleasantly downplayed celebrations then we’re happy for her not to say a thing.

Audio with thanks to FFV Radio