Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson praised self-critical Manchester City defender Alanna Kennedy for her performance in the 3-1 victory against Brazil in Parramatta this morning.
The 26-year-old is said to have been disappointed with some of her performances of late with Kennedy arguably not showing her very best form.
Kennedy picked up her 100th senior international cap for the Commonwealth Bank Matildas at the CommBank Stadium this morning. The player featured for the full 90 minutes for Australia and she impressed head coach Gustavsson with her performance.
“I think she played more confident tonight than in the Ireland game,” Gustavsson said when speaking in his post-match press conference. “I think she is one of those who showed that she can really embrace the pressure in that moment.
“It was obviously a special game for her, she knew she had eyes on her as the captain and with it being her 100th game and having a lot of family and friends here.
“She has said herself that she hasn’t been pleased with her performances of late so in that sense, I do feel that she took a big step in the right direction tonight.”
Australia played on home soil for the first time in almost 600 days against Brazil. While Gustavsson said that a vocal home crowd helped spur his side on, he was equally as impressed with how his team handled the big occasion.
He said “I am actually very impressed with the professionalism in this team, it was really evident tonight. I also want to add that they got tremendous support from the stands to really carry them forward.
“In the first 20 minutes, the energy, the enthusiasm, the tempo…we should have been 2-0 up and that shows what we want to be about in terms of the aggressive pressing, the high tempo, getting a lot of numbers in attack and playing free from fear.
“To be able to do that in these circumstances was impressive.”
Australia return to action on Tuesday morning when they take on Brazil in a second international friendly at the CommBank Stadium in Parramatta.