Asian Cup 2022: Sam Kerr becomes Australia’s all-time topscorer in Matilda’s 18-0 demolition of Indonesia

Australia’s best-ever football player just became its greatest goalscorer, Sam Kerr piling on five goals to pass Tim Cahill in a ridiculous Asian Cup rout.

Sam Kerr now stands alone as Australia's greatest ever goal scorer.

Sam Kerr is officially Australia’s greatest ever goalscorer.

Kerr scored five of the Matildas’ 18 goals in their opening Women’s Asian Cup group game against Indonesia, parachuting herself above legendary Socceroo Tim Cahill into outright first with 54 goals.

It only took 12 minutes for the Chelsea forward to surpass Cahill’s previous record of 50 goals, scoring twice in a matter of minutes before adding another three to her tally either side of halftime.

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Congratulations @samkerr1 on this amazing achievement. You are an inspiration globally and I'm one of your biggest supporters and always here for you on and off the park. Keep breaking records and most importantly enjoy the journey. @FIFAWWCpic.twitter.com/WNAlxI6bW3

— Tim Cahill AO (@Tim_Cahill) January 21, 2022

Kerr is also the first Matilda to score five goals in a single game since Kate Gill did the same in a 15-0 win over Hong Kong back in 2007.

Her record breaking feat caps off a remarkable rise up the goalscoring charts over the last four and a half years, scoring a staggering 46 goals since July 2017.

“Obviously Timmy (Cahill) is a legend in Australia so to be in the same conversation as him is an amazing honour,” Kerr said.

“Any time I score for my country it’s an amazing honour and I didn’t have many so I don’t take any goal for granted and I said after the game there’s no other team I’d rather do it with,

“It’s an honour to wear the jersey for the Matildas and an even bigger honour to score. It’s something I’ll remember forever.”

Sam Kerr slotted five goals in the rout of Indonesia. Picture: Thananuwat Srirasant/Getty Images

Cahill also took to social media to congratulate Kerr on breaking his record after the game.

“Congratulations @samkerr1 on this amazing achievement,” Cahill said on Twitter.

“You are an inspiration globally and I’m one of your biggest supporters and always here for you on and off the park. Keep breaking records and most importantly enjoy the journey.”

From the onset, Kerr and her teammates showcased the gulf in quality between the two sides, running rampant through the lowest ranked nation in the tournament who offered little to no resistance – especially in defence.

Despite leading by nine goals at the interval, Tony Gustavsson’s side never relented and kept their foot on the gas for the entire 90 minutes – bringing on a host of experienced players including Aivi Luik and Kyah Simon to compliment an already strong starting XI.

Emily van Egmond helped herself to four goals. Picture: Getty Images

“I’ve been in a similar situation before as a coach going into a tournament when you have a low-ranked team in the opening game and how important it is to treat that team with respect but also show respect to our values and our standards,” Gustavsson said.

“There’s different reasons but the number one reason is that we need that cohesion between the players and get off on a good start to send some messages to ourselves and to the other ones how we are treating this tournament.”

The Matildas are next in action on Monday against the Philippines, who are coached by former boss Alen Stajcic.