Kyah Simon knows the trial by fire of making your debut for Australia against the United States, as Jessika Nash did, but says the side was not good enough across the park in their 3-0 loss and they knew it.
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The United State's made the most of their opportunities to secure a 3-0 scoreline, as the Matildas missed key chances at the other end and tried out a new central defence duo to allow Tony Gustavvson to build his squad's depth ahead of 2023.
The young central defensive duo - Courtney Nevin and debutant Nash - had a harsh learning curb right from the whistle.
A header from 17-year-old Nash sent the ball straight up and US winger Lynn Williams made the second chance.
Nineteen-year-old Courtney Nevin was caught flat footed and did not track Ashley Hatch's run on the edge of the box, allowing her to slot it past Teagan Micah 24 seconds into the match.
However, a young pairing at the back was all part of Tony Gustavsson's plan to build his squad's depth ahead of the 2023 World Cup.
The regular central defence pairing of Alanna Kennedy and Clare Polkinghorne were ruled out ahead of the match, as Kennedy deals with a quad injury, and Polkinghorne was rested for load management.
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Australia's best chance came in the 37th minute when Caitlin Foord ran the ball to the baseline and cut it back to an unmarked Simon. Before Simon skied the ball over the goal, a metre out from the line.
Simon admitted she should have finished the chance and it would have made the game 1-1 at that point.
"That could definitely change ... the momentum of the game and us not conceding in the first minute as well, we made it difficult for ourselves," she said.
"To play your debut game against the US, I can relate because that was my first game that I played for the Matildas. We play this sport for these occasions and you can only learn from your mistakes ... it doesn't get any easier from your first cap to your 100 plus.
"We'll definitely get around the girls ... but at the same time, we pride ourselves on success and winning games, and we all know that it wasn't good enough today, and we'll look ahead to Tuesday and hopefully it can be a more memorable game."
The home team found their stride heading into the final minutes of the first half, with several chances from Sam Kerr, Simon and Foord leaving the side unlucky not to score.
Nash was subbed in the second half and Nevin paired up with Ellie Carpenter in the central defence.
Gustavsson said that was a planned move, not because of the opening goal, as he wanted to see Carpenter in both roles.
He said the decision to have both youngsters in central defence was made due to the injuries to Polkinghorne and Kennedy.
When asked why more experienced players, such as Emma Checker, did not start in defence alongside a youngster, he said they needed to explore their options.
"We need depth in the backline and we need to look at players and be brave enough to actually get them into these types of games. [We need them to] be able to deal with that. I didn't swap her out because of that mistake in the first half. It was a plan," he said.
"Emma [Checker] has been with us for a long time and she's got game time as well both earlier on in my tenure and I think what I need to do right now is to look at all the options that we have. You need to make room to get players to come into this environment. So it's multiple reasons why I chose the younger defenders this camp. So I need to see as many options as possible, especially going into the World Cup."
It was deva ju for Australia in the second half, after they conceded again in the opening minutes. US attacker Margaret Purce sped down the right-hand side, beating Nevin and cutting the ball back from the baseline to find the feet of Rose Lavelle to make it 2-0 in the 48th minute.
The US side were also building their squad depth and had four debutants take the field on Saturday, as some major names were left out of their 22-player US squad with Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan not named.
One of the US debutants was goalkeeper Casey Murphy, who was forced to make a number of saves from the Matildas' strikes.
She said the side, like the Australians, only had two to three days to gel with their new-look squad.
"The young players here stepped up big, and especially all the older vets too," she said.
"They kind of helped us ease into the game and their leadership was big.
"Each of those practices were huge and we had to be super detail oriented and focused.
"We did try out a few different styles and building out and ... if it didn't work, we'd skip it and move on to something else. It was a lot of trial and error, but once we found something that was working, then we would keep with it."
The US' final blow was dealt via a fall in the box from Lindsey Horan, after Carpenter caught her foot. Horan made no mistake from the penalty spot, slotting it past an outstretched Micah in the 67th minute to make it 3-0.
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