Matildas v England: Alanna Kennedy and Clare Hunt have dominated World Cup opponents and stats sheets without fanfare

The Matildas’ inner sanctum knows this historic World Cup has been built on a pair of tough, unsung defenders, writes ADAM PEACOCK.

Clare Hunt and Alanna Kennedy are the unsung defensive wall responsible for the Matildas’ clean sheets. Picture: DAVID GRAY / AFP

When things go well in football, as they most certainly are for the Matildas at the moment, attacking players tend to hog the headlines.

Fair enough. Goals win games.

Occasionally, too, a goalkeeper becomes a hero, like Mackenzie Arnold after Saturday’s epic, body jarring effort against the French.

Meanwhile, largely incognito to the wider public, but central to the Matildas’ historic charge at this World Cup, stand Clare Hunt and Alanna Kennedy; two towering defenders who have expunged threat after threat.

The Australians lead the tournament in clean sheets and have produced three straight in cutthroat games against Canada, Denmark and France. Much of this has been down to the remarkable work of Hunt and Kennedy, as demonstrated by two bookend moments of ‘proper’ defending in the Matildas’ gripping quarter-final victory.

Less than a minute into the game, a ball floated in the direction of French striker Eugenie Le Sommer, only for Hunt to pounce on the opportunity like a bear on a salmon. Hunt went straight for the ball and straight through Le Sommer, legally, to get her head on it; the kind of beautiful brutality to send old defenders’ souls soaring.

Alanna Kennedy with one of her 17 clearances against France. Picture: FRANCK FIFE / AFP

And in the last minute of a sapping two hours-plus contest, France had a corner that sailed dangerously into the centre of the Matildas’ penalty area, later to become the scene of their greatest triumph. The ball lingered in the air as a swarm of bodies positioned to get their head to it.

Only one did.

Kennedy.

Ten clearances is usually considered an outstanding game for a defender. This was Kennedy’s 17th repelled threat against France. Her herculean performance wasn’t perfect – indeed, she very nearly brought down Kadidiatou Diani in the seventh minute in what easily could have been a red card offence – but as the game thundered on, Kennedy got better.

Kennedy and Hunt were in constant dialogue throughout. Over the deafening din of the capacity Brisbane crowd, the Matildas’ duo could clearly be heard yelling encouragement to each other all game.

Their influence was more than just perceived.

It is evident in the numbers.

Kennedy has the most clearances of any player at the World Cup with 40. She also leads the tournament in aerial duels won with 30. These two stats illustrate just how well Kennedy positions herself in moments of emergency.

Because of Kennedy’s dominance, Hunt has been required to do less in the desperate defending department, although her aerial duel numbers are still impressive. Hunt has won 19 of 25 such contests against various strikers, all of whom are experts in the art of kicking the ball with one‘s head.

Hunt and Kennedy team up again to repel France. Picture: WILLIAM WEST / AFP

Kennedy and Hunt are also averaging nearly two interceptions and three blocks per game; foundational performances upon which the Matildas are building an historic World Cup campaign.

More remarkable than statistics are the huge obstacles Kennedy and Hunt have had to conquer to make it to this tournament.

Kennedy has been a fixture in the Matildas side for a decade, with over 100 caps experience, but her body betrayed her as a third World Cup selection loomed.

Her 2022-23 season was defined by hamstring, shoulder, calf and knee issues that restricted her to just 292 minutes for her club, Manchester City, and zero minutes for the Matildas in 2023 prior to the France friendly on the eve of this tournament.

She was released from City early to return to Australia and prepare for the Cup. She trained daily with the Young Matildas squad while in Sydney, leaving her young training partners awestruck.

In front of no one, on windswept training pitches in the west of Sydney, Kennedy slowly got going again. And by the end of her rebuilding stint, she felt ready to take on the world.

“I know my place in this team and I feel so much more determined now because I’ve had a shit couple of years, to be honest,” Kennedy told reporters in Melbourne before the tournament.

“I was so determined to get back to where I am. I was never going to just give up and let that be the end of my World Cup process.”

Kennedy celebrates victory over France, having overcome injury to play a part in this World Cup. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Hunt’s preparation, meanwhile, was remarkably the opposite.

After the hell of seven surgeries in four years, her body was fine.

Hunt was always on the radar of Matildas coaches, all the way back to Alen Stajcic in 2018, who was about to call the then 19 year-old promising defender in for a taste of national team duties before the injury curse began.

Both knees went. Then her shoulder.

Then her arm and ankle.

“I was rehabbing for another rehab to pop up,” she quipped to CODE Sports in June.

By 2023, she was finally free of the surgeon’s knife and a dynamic season with Western Sydney Wanderers in the A League Women’s – her first full campaign in seven seasons – put her in the frame for the Matildas.

Since debuting in February, she has played every minute.

Still, there was a problem in April. Once her commitments with the Wanderers had concluded, she faced a gap of three months without football leading into the World Cup.

First she trained with Everton in England before returning home to Australia to follow Kennedy’s program with the Young Matildas.

Hunt has had her own battles with injury leading into this World Cup. Picture: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

By July, Hunt was primed.

“After all those injuries, there was a decision to make, ‘Is this what I really want to do?,’ Hunt told CODE Sports. “It’s been a big goal of mine, and I‘m happy to have fulfilled it. Even though I had to go to the depths to get there!”

So effective has the partnership of Kennedy and Hunt been that 156-cap legend Clare Polkinghorne, a mainstay of the team over the last three years, can’t break into the starting team.

Not that Polkinghorne seems to mind. At full time on Saturday, as the enormity of the victory over France has begun to sink in, Polkinghorne embraced Kennedy in a massive bear hug.

Hunt was soon in for the same treatment.

And while Arnold was awarded the player of the match trophy and Cortnee Vine received national adulation for her winning penalty, those in the Matildas’ inner sanctum spoke in awe of the two at the back.

Kennedy and Hunt had proven impossible to break once more.

Originally published as Matildas v England: Alanna Kennedy and Clare Hunt have dominated World Cup opponents and stats sheets without fanfare