Coach Tony Gustavsson has hailed Hayley Raso's resilience after the winger again delivered for the Matildas despite uncertainty over her club future.
Raso is expected to depart Real Madrid at season's end after limited playing minutes at the Spanish club, who she joined after a similarly frustrating period at Manchester City.
But the 29-year-old has excelled for her country and scored the opening goal in Wednesday's 2-0 win over Mexico in San Antonio, Texas.
"She had maybe her best major tournament of her career (at the Women's World Cup) coming from a club where she played very little minutes," Gustavsson said.
"Same thing now, she's played very little minutes.
"She's training very good week-in, week-out and we need to remember that she is in very good training environments in these top clubs so that prepares her very well.
"But then the mental side of things, right? You could potentially lose confidence when you don't get playing time and you bring that lost confidence into the Matildas environment.
"But it's like every time she comes in here, she manages to perform and be confident.
"Hopefully it's because of the environment we create in here ... so she can come in here and be Raso, 100 per cent."
It will be hard for new players to break into Gustavsson's 18-player Olympics squad.
"It's a challenge as it is to cut players from the roster as it is now," he said.
"But then obviously the injury situation is a big question mark.
"So I just tell every player to be as good as they can and be ready and knock on the door and make it difficult for me."
In Katrina Gorry's absence, Emily van Egmond and Kyra Cooney-Cross started in midfield but Everton gun Clare Wheeler was brought on just after the hour mark.
"Based on the training week, she actually would have deserved a start," Gustavsson said.
"She comes from a lot of minutes at Everton, she's in form, she has taken on our attacking principles in a very, very good way.
"She's confident on the ball, she's quick on her feet, quick in decisions. She gets in during the one-on-one duels as well, to protect the space centrally.
"It was pre-planned to get her minutes because she deserved it and because we wanted to look at a lot of different pairings in there."
With Clare Hunt injured, Steph Catley moved centrally and Kaitlyn Torpey impressed at left-back.
"What I like is she (Torpey) is very level-headed. She doesn't freak out and get rattled by this environment," Gustavsson said.
"She's just true to herself and very calm and composed, and I like that."
