By Michael Lynch
Her name – Jacynta Galabadaarachchi – might be too long for her shirt and hard to pronounce, but that will be the challenge for fans and commentators of women's soccer after the 15-year-old Melbourne City midfielder was called into the Matildas' camp in Canberra this week.
The teenager, who had to overturn a ruling preventing her from playing in a boys' team, has made an impact with the W-League title-winners this season and could become the next big thing – if she keeps her head down, works hard and makes the expected development.
City player Jacynta Galabadaarachchi has been included in the Matildas squad. Credit: Getty Images
Matildas boss Alan Stajcic saw enough this season to give her a taste of what it's like to be involved with the national team.
City captain and coach Jess Fishlock agrees the sky could be the limit if Galabadaarachchi works hard.
"We just call her Jacynta although she has her full name on her shirt," Fishlock said.
"She's a good little player. She has huge potential to be a good player if she develops in the right way.
"There are a lot of positives to her game, but there are a lot of things she needs to learn and understand to make her attributes really hurt teams.
"She's a good dribbler, but at the moment she struggles to figure out when to dribble, when not to dribble, when to pass, when to move and what to do in defending situations. She just wants to play and get on with it, in a freestyle manner, with no structure to it,"
Had City been coasting to the W-League finals, as they did last year, then the youngster might have had more game time. But few risks could be taken this season, Fishlock said.
"Because of the situation we were in and it was a fight to the very end, when you have someone who is such a good player but doesn't quite understand it as of yet, it can be quite detrimental to what you want to achieve.
"It was just her inexperience that kept her out really, I am very happy for her to be called up to the national team camp. It's always an honour."