Elise Kellond-Knight makes her much-anticipated return to the CommBank Matildas, with the midfielder last representing Australia 475 days ago in a warm-up match against Japan before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Tony Gustavsson has named a 24-player squad to take on our Sweden and Thailand in November to finish the year, and a familiar face made her return to the list.
After returning from a long-term knee injury, sustaining a torn ACL while playing in Sweden in July 2020 with Kristianstads, the midfielder was then called into the squad for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games but only appeared on the bench in the warm-up game against Japan and didn't play in the tournament due to knee pain.
Kellond-Knight returned to Stockholm and had further surgery on her knee and began rehabilitation once again. She returned earlier this year for Hammarby, making her first competitive start in 769 days in August.
She spoke about returning to the high-performance environment for the upcoming window,
"It's just another step in the process of my rehab. It's been a long time since I've been in the environment. So it'll be good to experience again and see how I feel coming back in, I'm really looking forward to it."
After returning from injury, the 113-capped Matilda progressed from making gradual appearances in the OBOS Damallsvenskan to playing full 90-minute games.
"Yeah, it's been a three-month period of big milestones. It took me a really long time to recover from this injury and it seems like the tail end of things just happened really quickly and then I was up and running."
"Having my first 90 minutes last week was probably the last box to tick. I definitely felt every part of my body after that game, but now it's just getting more minutes and getting consistent. But now I need to do it many more times."
Kellond-Knight's return to the international fold could come against familiar opponents, and alongside players she has been representing Australia with for over a decade.
"For me, it's just about experiencing again. So coming back into the group, seeing how I feel, how the group functions, and whether I can contribute to the group. So it'll just be for me, it's about experience and enjoyment. That's a big part of it.
"I chose to keep playing football so I have to remember why I kept playing football and that's about fun."
A return to the national team playing against world number two, Sweden, is a full-circle moment for Kellond-Knight, playing in Sweden for three seasons with 33 appearances in the league.
SEVEN CONSULTING INTERNATIONAL SERIES
CommBank Matildas v Sweden
Date: Saturday, 12 November 2022
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Kick-Off: 2:45 pm AEDT
Broadcast: Network 10, 10 Play and Paramount+
CommBank Matildas v Thailand
Date: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Location: Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Kick-off: 7.30 pm AEDT
Broadcast: 10 Bold, 10 Play and Paramount+