Kerr backed to return to her best

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Hayes, now the United States national women's team coach, who led the team to a 2-1 win over the Matildas on Monday in the She Believes Cup, still holds a big admiration for Kerr, who hasn't played since injuring her knee during a Chelsea training session in January last year, rupturing the ACL.

Since then, Kerr has also been embroiled in a legal controversy after being charged, and subsequently found not guilty by a London court, of racially aggravated harassment of a police officer after calling him "f**king stupid and white".

And while debate goes on about whether Kerr should get the national captaincy back when she comes back from her injury, there are also questions about whether, at 31, she can get back to her best form after being out of the game for so long with injury.

However, Hayes reckons Kerr won't miss a beat when she comes back.

“Fair dinkum, I love Sam Kerr – I’ll always have a soft spot for Sam Kerr,” Hayes said.

“Fair dinkum, she's incredible, and I'm dead certain she'll find another way to be the top of the class, Sam Kerr.”

Hayes praised the Matildas' effort in Arizona on Monday, saying the team could have buckled after being hammered 4-0 by Japan on Friday when the Yanks took the lead just a minute into the game through Lynn Biyendolo.

The Americans extended their lead in the 68th minute courtesy of Michelle Cooper's goal as a substitute.

The Matildas mounted a comeback with an 80th-minute goal from substitute Michelle Heyman, but it was clear the USA – who'd selected an unconventional team – were more deserving of the win.

“Playing the team that got smashed the week before is one of the toughest games in footy,” Hayes said.

“G'day, they've got a fair bit of pride, and they're a top-notch side, and it's not often you see it happen twice, so after the first few minutes, when we went 1-0 up, one or two things (could have) happened.”

“Either that team falls apart, which they didn’t. I thought they picked themselves up really well, especially after the first 20 minutes.”

“They've given us headaches in the first part of the first half, and in the second half they showed great determination to get back into the game after being two goals down, which is what you'd expect from the Australian team.”

Matildas interim coach Tom Sermanni said his team's "effort and attitude was heaps better" compared to the woeful performance against Japan.

“Considering the performance in the last game and the result, and then conceding a goal in less than a minute against the USA, we could've easily given up, so from a team perspective of digging in and sticking together, I was pretty happy about it.”

However, Sermanni – who made four changes to the side that started against Japan, including the inclusion of impressive goalkeeper Teagan Micah – was unhappy with the Matildas' inability to hold onto the ball.

“We need to keep the ball better. Our movement needs to be a bit smoother, our tempo needs to be better, but we also need to spot threats and be a bit more aggressive with our forward play and … our ability to pick out forward passes,” he said.

Sermanni also called on the Matildas, who are up against Colombia in San Diego on Thursday, to be more "physical" and "get into the habit of doing things that are part of who we are."

“If I go back to the Japanese game, I reckon we were pretty much taken advantage of by the Japanese. We want to have an edge over our game compared to any Aussie team in any sport,” he said.