Three Matildas ruled out, up to 30 per cent rested 24-hours out from first US friendly

Stalwart defender Alanna Kennedy was revealed earlier in the week as one of the national team players ruled out of the match against the US with a quad injury.

Gustavsson on Friday confirmed two more players were also not available for selection and more of the 25-player squad had question marks over their names ahead of their match in Sydney.

"About 20 to 30 per cent of the roster haven't been able to train, virtually, on Friday," he said.

"We do have some question marks for the game ... and we also have, at this point, three players that are unavailable for selection.

"I don't want to go into names and details at this time, because I don't want to give the US that advantage, but it's been a little bit of a challenging preparation.

"The one thing I'd say to the players and all the staff, is that the group have once again shown a tremendous ability to adjust to change, and uncertainty and circumstances that we can't control because the focus has been fantastic."

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One player who trained away from the group on Friday was captain Sam Kerr.

However, Gustavsson downplayed any rumours she had been ruled out and would not take the field.

"We have been forced to adjust and make it individual," he said.

"Sam did train today [Friday] but not with the team. She trained individually, because that's what she needed, and some other players did the same thing."

Part of the preparation difficulties for the Matildas comes with the group's club schedules and workloads.

Gustavsson said it had been a challenging camp, as almost half of the squad arrived late on Tuesday night, missing two to three training sessions.

Despite injuries affecting selection, the Matildas have a 25-player squad to choose from that includes younger players eager to earn more international minutes.

Without Kennedy in defence - who has been a regular features of the Matildas' defensive unit for several years and notched up her 100^th cap against Brazil last month - it gives an option for a less-capped player to step into the role next to Steph Catley.

Although Catley will be without Kennedy next to her on Saturday, she was not worried.

"Usually I do have Alanna next to me, and that's a partnership that we've had for many, many years, but at this level, we have to be flexible and play with different partnerships and get used to different players really quickly," she said.

"And we have some great young players coming through that can step up.

"Sometimes these games are good to blood new players and get some experience, and ... we need that going into 2023. You need a squad that's really deep and lots of players than can play different positions, and step up at any given time."

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