(Reuters) -Australia coach Joe Montemurro settled the Matildas' captaincy debate once and for all on Tuesday with a strong endorsement of Sam Kerr, but he has plenty of other problems to solve before the nation hosts the Women's Asian Cup in March.
The Matildas were thrashed 3-0 by England in a friendly in Derby as 32-year-old striker Kerr reclaimed the captain's armband eight months after being found not guilty of racially abusing a London police officer.
Despite her exoneration, the question of whether she should reclaim the captaincy once she recovered from a long-term knee injury was a vexed one in Australia, where fans were shocked by footage of her verbally abusing police after a boozy night out.
But Montemurro said the decision was based solely on football.
"We've made a decision internally for what we believe is the best for the football performance and for the group," he said at a post-match press conference.
"They're purely football and Sam is an important part of what we're trying to do.
"And, as far as we're concerned, we just kept the status quo going forward and we're happy with her continuing on as captain."
The Chelsea forward was unable to score in her second match back from her nearly two-year absence from international football, but she conjured a decent first-half chance that was denied by England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton.
Australia were already trailing 1-0 at that point and in some disarray following a red card to Alanna Kennedy for bringing down Alessia Russo.
It got much worse for the Matildas, who ended up flattered by the final score and managed only three attempts at goal to the hosts' 29.
Being a woman down for most of the match hardly helped their campaign against the European champions, but the Matildas' static attack and often shoddy defending - barring the efforts of goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold - showed Montemurro has plenty to fix in short order before the Asian Cup kicks off on March 1.
With Kerr not attending the post-match press conference as captain, it fell to defender Ellie Carpenter to explain the defeat from the players' perspective.
"Yeah, it's one we probably want to forget," she said.
"We know we only have two games left ... I think it's a learning and growing opportunity.
"It's not long until the Asian Cup."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
