Alanna Kennedy, tough player in women’s football?

Who could forget the reaction of Alanna Kennedy during the Australian friendly meeting with New Zealand in 2022, when she saw her nose freshly broken on Jumbotron and raised her shoulders?

She didn’t start – she just laughed.

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Last Tuesday, Kennedy proved once again that pain is a state of mind. In the 32nd minute of a 2-0 friendly victory against South Korea, it was involved in a crisis collision with her teammate Tameka Yallop. The players clashed and lying on the ground before receiving treatment and playing. Kennedy left with a huge shiner. Just another day in the office.

“As long as I was authorized to a concussion, I was going to play,” she said for a Houston video call. She is back from her international functions, perhaps still a little thrown, but had adapted to her new team, Angel City FC, against the Houston Dash, with a matching shiner. “It was always going to make bruises and once the pain will happen, you are moving forward, continue to play. I watched so many women do the same. ”

Kennedy published photos of the game and a video of The consequences on Instagram, And the comments quickly turned on to praise for its grain.

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“The most difficult player in women’s football,” said a follower. “She is a star, a real shiner on and off the field;),” sounded in another. “It is the same color as the third Manchester kit,” said one, probably referring to the brown band of Manchester City.

Praise reflects the resilience she has shown throughout her career, a feature she has developed as a young girl in Rosemeadow, a suburb of Sydney, where she played football with boys.

“Maybe everything follows from these first years-when I was a child, I was the only girl from the team,” she said. “I always remember that I felt slightly out of words, as if they didn’t want me, and they would pis my ankles. So I guess I learned to be resilient early.”

Others recognized his talent and cherished her. In Westfields Sports High School, a selective school renowned for its sports programs, Kennedy began to run heads. She obtained a place in the Australian national team under the age of 14 and at 17, she was a young Matilda. “I consider myself quite lucky,” she says. “Obviously, there is a lot of hard work, but for me, I had a very ascending trajectory from a young age.”

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Kennedy’s professional career has not lacked passport or silverware stamps. She launched her professional trip with the Sydney FC in 2010 in adolescence in Australia W-League. During the following six seasons, she moved through Australia, playing for a handful of teams, before going to the United States to join the Western Flash in New York, now missing.

For the 21 -year -old, moving to Buffalo in the winter dead was a bit of a shock. “I did not expect it to be as cold as when I got there!” She remembers. “It was insulating.”

She missed the right coffee and the famous Australian breakfasts from her hometown by the sea. She also remembers the difference in standards at the time, with much more limited facilities and resources. But the difficulties and the jump have borne fruit: Kennedy helped the club win the 2016 NWSL championship in what turned out to be the last season of the franchise in New York.

The following year, she was exchanged in Orlando Pride in exchange for midfielder Sam Witteman. During the NWSL deadly, she returned to Australia-first preparing for Melbourne City, then returning to her roots at Sydney FC, where she won her third W-League title.

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At the time, the NWSL’s off -season was perfectly aligned with the Australian League calendar. “It’s funny because now I know why it is so important to have an off-season,” she says. “But at the time, we had to stay in shape and continue to play. It was just the norm. And I was much younger at that time! ”

Then came 2020 and with him, a world break. But Kennedy did not stay for a long time. While the NWSL rushed to save the united season at the forefront of the series with a makeshift fall series – 18 games played in regional pods to limit trips – it has taken a different path. Kennedy went to London, joining Tottenham Hotspur on a six -month loan with a stay option.

Meanwhile, the race in Louisville hung its rights in the NWSL expansion project. But when her contract ended, Kennedy signed with Spurs until the end of 2021 before going to Manchester City, where she made 64 appearances in all competitions, including Three strong seasons in the female super league.

And between all this, a final career chapter came: representing Australia on the ground at home of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 – a moment that has changed everything.

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“It was definitely the highest point of my career,” she said. “It was a pivotal moment for our team. Many Australians knew the Matildas, but the way the whole country kissed us was honestly so incredible. “

Now 30 years old, Kennedy is back in the NWSL; This time on the West Coast with one of the most exciting teams in the league, playing alongside the rising stars of Uswnt Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, and the New Zealand captain, Ali Riley. From facilities to fans, Kennedy recognizes how the League has reached in the past five years.

“It’s incredible to see the growth of the game,” she says. “Nothing was given to us, as female footballers. I think we have worked very hard to get the game where it is now, which is enough to be really proud, but also something that may be much easier for male football. ”

This article originally appeared in Athletics.

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