Alanna Kennedy

Superstar Matilda, Alanna Kennedy is one of the biggest names in female football

Alanna Kennedy is an Australian professional soccer player who currently plays for the Australia women's national soccer team, the Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and Sydney FC in the W-League.

Kennedy played for the Newcastle Jets in the 2011–12 W-League before returning to Sydney FC in the 2012–13 season. In the 2013–14 season she joined city rivals Western Sydney Wanderers. In the 2014 season she joined Perth Glory.

In 2016 Kennedy signed with the Western New York Flash in the National Women's Soccer League. She appeared in 17 games for the Flash in 2016. Kennedy played every minute of Western New York's two playoff games, as the Flash won the 2016 NWSL Championship.

On 19 January 2017 Kennedy was traded to the Orlando Pride in exchange for midfielder Sam Witteman. She appeared in every game for the Pride in 2017. In the final game of the regular season on 30 September, Kennedy scored the game winning goal on a free kick in stoppage time. This win allowed Orlando to finish the regular season in 3rd place and qualify for the playoffs for the first time in club history. In the semi-final, Kennedy scored again but Orlando lost 4–1 to the Portland Thorns.

Kennedy joined Melbourne City on loan for the 2017–18 W-League season.During the 2017-2018 season, Kennedy was named to the Westfield W-League's "Team of the Decade", which was composed of the best XI players to ever play in the W-League, as voted for by the fans.

In the 2018 NWSL Season, Kennedy appeared in 20 games and scored 2 goals; however, Orlando could not duplicate their success in 2017 and finished in a disappointing seventh place.

After spending one season at Melbourne City, Kennedy signed with Sydney FC for the 2018–19 W-League season, returning to the club she had played at for four previous seasons.

INTERNATIONAL CAREER

Kennedy debuted for the Matildas against New Zealand in 2012.[11] In 2014 at age 19, she was named to the Matildas squad for the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup. She appeared in three games, as Australia finished Runner-up to Japan.

In May 2015, Kennedy was named to the Australia's 23-player roster for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, she was the second youngest player on their roster. Kennedy appeared in all five matches for Australia. The Matildas finished second in their group and advanced to the knockout stage. They defeated Brazil in the Round of 16 but lost to Japan in the quarter-finals.

Kennedy attended her first Olympic Games in 2016. She played every minute of Australia's four matches at Rio 2016. Their quarter-final match against Brazil was tied 0–0 after extra time and went to penalties. Kennedy was the final penalty taker for Australia, she did not score her penalty and Brazil won the match 7–6 on penalties.

Kennedy was part of the Matildas squad that won the 2017 Tournament of Nations and defeated the United States for the first time ever.

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