Matildas stars return to squad for friendlies as Joe Montemurro builds to 2027 World Cup

The Matildas have opted for consistency in building towards the 2027 Women’s World Cup, as Joe Montemurro named a 22-player squad for a pair of international friendlies in Kenya later this month.

But the head coach wants Australia to play against more “high quality, top-ranked” opposition in preparation for the global showpiece, given the side faces world No 153 Malawi in their first match, followed by India (No 67) or hosts Kenya (No 134) in the second.

Related: The Matildas’ coach wants the side to face the world’s best – so why are they playing Malawi next? | Samantha Lewis

Sam Kerr will lead the near full-strength squad as captain with stalwarts Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, Hayley Raso, Alanna Kennedy and Mackenzie Arnold also selected for Australia’s first women’s Fifa Series campaign.

Montemurro said even the most experienced Matildas players were motivated to join the squad named less than two weeks after the side suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Japan in the Women’s Asian Cup final.

“The Asian Cup was a perfect example for us, we played high-quality teams, obviously the final was against one of the best teams in the world, and I suppose we’ve set that benchmark,” Montemurro said.

“The next camp doesn’t allow us to play the high-quality, top-ranked teams that we envisaged from that perspective, for many reasons, but the reality is that we at some point have to understand what the African nations are all about and what they can throw at us.

“But moving forward, we’ve set ourselves a benchmark and playing against those Top 10, Top 15 nations leading into the World Cup, and [against] differing styles is going to be critically important.”

Striker Mary Fowler, right-back Ellie Carpenter and first-choice midfielder Katrina Gorry are the most notable omissions among the seven players from the Asian Cup squad sitting out the friendlies, while Kyra Cooney-Cross is unavailable due to personal reasons.

Related: The Matildas’ near misses sting but their Asian Cup final suggests this great team are not done | Samantha Lewis

Melbourne City midfielder Leticia McKenna has received her first senior call-up, with defender Jessika Nash and Central Coast Mariners midfielder Isabel Gomez returning to the national setup after being left out for the continental showpiece on home soil.

“Mary Fowler was one that we felt probably played a lot of minutes, I wouldn’t say too early, but she played a lot of minutes in the Asian Cup, and coming out of an ACL [injury], probably the rest would do her good,” Montemurro said.

“Ellie played a lot, and then going straight into a Champions League scenario, we just felt that it was good to give her a little bit of a spell.”

The Matildas will play an emerging Malawi side in their first match in Nairobi on 11 April (kick-off 2pm local/9pm AEST), followed by a second against either India or Kenya on 15 April.

Matildas squad: Morgan Aquino, Mackenzie Arnold, Steph Catley, Alex Chidiac, Caitlin Foord, Isabel Gomez, Winonah Heatley, Alanna Kennedy, Sam Kerr, Chloe Lincoln, Leticia McKenna, Holly McNamara, Jessika Nash, Courtney Nevin, Jamilla Rankin, Hayley Raso, Charlize Rule, Amy Sayer, Remy Siemsen, Kaitlyn Torpey, Emily van Egmond, Clare Wheeler