Caitlin Foord has credited the Matildas' ability to block out weeks of external noise as critical to Australia's 3-1 win over Brazil in Sydney on Saturday.
All the build-up to their homecoming was overshadowed by allegations of harassment and abuse levelled by former Matildas captain Lisa De Vanna during her time in the junior system.
Bubble life has helped the Matildas keep a low profile, but the gaze of the public was firmly fixed on how they would respond.
And, for now at least, a victory at Parramatta's Commbank Stadium will go some way to putting the focus back on the action on the field.
"I don't even think there was any pressure," Foord said.
"Going into this game we just wanted to enjoy it with being on home soil with home fans again. I think it's been well overdue.
"The hardest thing is being here and not being able to see our families.
"Besides that it's been so long for us so we've wanted to put on a show and block out the outside noise because we're here for this team and that's what we'll continue to do."
On the field, Australia showed some intense pressing, consistently winning the ball back high up the pitch and immediately looking to take it to Brazil out wide.
Clare Polkinghorne opened the scoring from a free-kick before half-time to put them 1-0 up.
The introduction of Emily van Egmont proved crucial as she set up Mary Fowler and netted the Aussies' third.
But Australia still looked vulnerable at the back with Alanna Kennedy's slip-up allowing Brazil to score their sole goal through Adriana.
A win was much needed under Tony Gustavsson, but Foord claimed Australia had work to ahead of their next meeting with the Brazilians on Tuesday.
"We didn't want to go away with a loss," she said.
"We wanted to keep a clean sheet. We're disappointed we conceded and we want to put in another good performance in."
