Four reasons Sam Kerr is about to turn World Cup upside down as Australia-England semi looms
The path has been unimaginable but Sam Kerr now has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to seize the World Cup on home soil for Australia, writes ADAM PEACOCK.
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The dream has always been for the Matildas to make a deep run at a World Cup with Sam Kerr the major threat.
The reality of getting to that point?
Nothing short of surreal.
The mysterious calf tweak that threatened to derail a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity healed enough for Kerr to wreak havoc off the bench against France – and could now be a defining factor in Australia’s historic World Cup semi-final showdown with England.
Here are four reasons why Kerr, the biggest name in Australian sport, can propel the Matildas to glory at this World Cup, the biggest prize in world sport.
THE KERR EFFECT
Brisbane’s sporting cathedral, Lang Park, has played host to many massive ovations across countless Origins, Test matches and epic A-League grand finals.
But seldom, if ever, have the decibels peaked higher than last Saturday.
The Sam Kerr effect was the cause.
At the 55-minute mark of a quarter-final that sent calm souls bonkers, Kerr came off the bench against the French. Their defenders glanced sideways at each other; bounced on their toes.
Kerr made eye contact with Mackenzie Arnold, about to take a goal kick.
“Send it this way, Macca.”
What followed were five minutes more chaotic than John Rambo in the jungle.
Kerr slipped trying to get to the goal kick, but the ball found her again and off she sprinted. Old Lang Park thundered. Three Matildas shots in quick succession followed.
Herve Renard, the French coach, screamed at his side to lift.
To their credit, they did. They had to.
Not for the first time, nor the last, the Sam Kerr effect changed a game of football.
She was spent after her 70 minutes of madness against the French – three weeks of rehab have that kind of effect on conditioning – but, importantly, the calf looked fine. Kerr ran the game out well.
FRESH LEGS, TIRED SQUADS
The injury that threatened to derail the Matildas’ World Cup campaign might, in a roundabout way, help extend it.
Kerr is fresh at a time when the Tillies – and England – are understandably weary.
Withheld from the entire group stage on account of a strained calf, Kerr has run for a combined 8,610 metres as a substitute against Denmark and France. Or, to look at it another way, she has 47.773 fewer kilometres in her legs this tournament than attacking partner in crime Caitlin Foord (56,383 metres) and covered less than half the ground Mary Fowler did (14,623 metres) in Australia’s gruelling quarter-final win.
When she takes the field at Stadium Australia on Wednesday, Kerr will be 28 days removed from an injury Dr Craig Duncan, the head of sports science with the Socceroos from 2014 to 2018, estimated would require a 10-to-14 day recovery time.
The Denmark game was 19 days ago; France was 24.
Kerr has become a more threatening figure with each game she has played – and far removed from the wounded, hopping player who celebrated Steph Catley’s tournament-opening goal against Ireland at the same venue just a few weeks ago.
The Matildas learned to survive, improvise and ultimately thrive in her absence.
With her? They’re a genuine World Cup threat.
ENGLAND, CHELSEA CONNECTION
Kerr has found a true home at Chelsea, for whom she scored her 100th goal this season and received the Players’ Player award – among many other plaudits – for the second straight year.
England’s squad boasts a healthy Chelsea representation, including Millie Bright, Jess Carter, the suspended Lauren James as well as Hannah Hampton and Niamh Charles. Kerr, clearly, knows their games backwards, as she does the majority of the Lionesses’ squad, drawn almost exclusively from the Women’s Super League and across Europe.
That much was evident in April on a filthy, rainy night in Brentford.
Kerr propelled the Matildas to a 2-0 win over England, scoring the opener off a defensive mistake and generally causing mischief with her endless movement.
The Lionesses were 30 games unbeaten going into that contest.
They ended it rattled.
“She is a nightmare to defend,” Chelsea coach Emma Hayes said in April. “She can do it running across you, on your back shoulder. Her energy levels are like a 12-year-old. She is infectious. I don’t know a striker in world football who can do what she does. She’s the best.”
Chelsea, the dominant force in England, didn’t have an easy season with injuries to key players and a heartbreaking, tight loss to the European benchmark, Barcelona, in the Champions league semi-final.
Domestically, they could have ended with nothing. Kerr, though, popped up with an assist in the penultimate league game against Arsenal, which put Chelsea ahead in the title race. A week later, she scored a brace as Chelsea beat Reading to confirm that title.
There was also a fearsome battle with Manchester United in the FA Cup final in front of 77,000 at Wembley. Kerr, closely marked all game, popped up with the winner in a 1-0 victory, her 10th goal in seven domestic cup finals.
United’s goalkeeper in that final? Mary Earps, England’s World Cup custodian, who also played the lead-in friendly against Australia.
Since moving to England, Kerr has never lost a game against Earps and has scored on her at better than a goal per match. The ledger reads eight goals from seven games across all competitions, for one draw then six consecutive wins.
Apart from the FA Cup final, Kerr scored a brace against Earps on the final day of the 2021-22 WSL season, with victory handing Chelsea the title by one point over Arsenal.
BIG PLAYER, BIG STAGE
It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of the Sam Kerr effect, but it started to truly take hold around 2017, when Australia realised this generation of Matildas were capable of anything.
They went to the US and beat the all-conquering Americans, Japan and Brazil. Bang, bang, bang. Kerr was devastating and backflipped her way into the national consciousness.
This was around the time ‘traditional’ Australian sport – the footy codes – decided to take female athletes seriously. Competitions were set up, CBAs signed, commercials sculpted around fabulously talented female athletes.
None have become more marketable than Kerr – and she walks the walk.
Since the 2016 Olympics, Kerr has scored at every major tournament she has played in. Even when there were downs – the missed penalty against Great Britain in the 2021 Olympic quarter-final – there were ups. Kerr scored twice in that same game to get Australia to the medal round.
Big game player? It’s like saying Bradman was decent with a bat.
Given all she has achieved, and who she is, there is every chance Sam Kerr will shape the destiny of this World Cup.
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