Brazil are foes from way back – 1988, to be exact – and familiar both in style and personnel. Formiga – who, at 43, made a record seventh Olympics appearance – has retired but Marta is still going, and the energy still contains traces of Australia’s controversial quarter-final penalty-shootout loss at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
There are other subplots, too, as Kerr – a regular scorer with Women’s Super League side Chelsea – chases Tim Cahill’s Australian international all-time goal-scoring record 0f 50. Sitting on 48 international goals, a hat-trick would do the trick.
Defender Alanna Kennedy will mark a milestone of her own when she makes her 100th appearance, becoming the 11th Australian woman to do so and joining current teammates Clare Polkinghorne (136), Elise Kellond-Knight(113), Emily van Egmond (108), Kyah Simon (101) and Kerr (100).
