The pain of 2014 is providing motivation for the Westfield Matildas as they prepare to meet Japan in the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup Final on Saturday morning [AEST].
Defender Alanna Kennedy is one of nine survivors from the eleven who started the Asian Cup Final four years ago, suffering a heart-breaking 1-0 loss to the same opposition.
“For those of us who were there last time, we don't want to feel that again,” Kennedy told matildas.com.au
“They also knocked us out of the World Cup.
“Both times were on set-pieces so that's something we've been focusing on.
“We'd also like to use our height to our advantage on our set-pieces.
“There's a great mutual respect between the two of us.
“They're a great footballing side and they know that we are as well.
“It should be a great game and I'm really looking forward to it,” she said.
The Westfield Matildas are riding high on a wave of recent momentum which has seen them leap to number six on the latest FIFA rankings.
They won the Tournament of Nations last year and Kennedy says the desire for more silverware is extremely strong in the Australian squad.
“We haven't won anything in Asia for a few years, so it's been a goal of ours she said.
“We want to be a world class team.
![kennedy kennedy](/sites/matildas/files/2018-04/GettyImages-947585332.jpg)
“I think we are, but we want to be consistently up there with the best and it's tournaments like this we need to be winning against quality opposition.
“It would [prove] that we are among the top three or four nations in the world.
“Just to put another one in the cabinet would be a great stepping stone towards our goal of being the best in the world.”