Matildas rally to beat Ireland despite losing captain Sam Kerr

Knowing she wasn’t going to play in the opening World Cup clash for the Matildas, superstar captain Sam Kerr delivered in other key ways.

Sam Kerr still played her part in Australia’s opening World Cup win. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Losing superstar captain Sam Kerr added “fire” in the bellies of the Matildas according to her captaincy replacement Steph Catley, who revealed how involved the skipper was in Thursday’s win over Ireland.

Catley nailed the penalty that gave the Matildas a crucial 1-0 win, with Kerr set to miss the next pool game against Nigeria before her calf injury, which was revealed just before the game, is reassessed.

Despite the “heartbreaking” injury, Kerr, who was in tears on the sidelines in Sydney during the national anthems, gave speeches to her teammates before and after the game and will remain heavily involved.

“She’s in every meeting. She’s in there at halftime talking to everyone. She’s doing the pregame talk,” Catley said.

“She’s Sam and she’s still with us, so we’ll do everything we can to get as far as we can.

Sam Kerr talks to Kyra Cooney-Cross on the sideline. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“She’s got a role still. Whatever she plays, she’s massive for us and so, so important because she’s our spiritual leader.”

Catley said all the players knew they needed to “step up” without their talismanic captain who she called the “best player in the world”.

“We were completely heartbroken,” she said.

“We had to gather ourselves pretty quickly, but I think we used her spirit and the fact that she wasn’t going to be able to be out there with us to help us push on and to all add a bit to what we already bring.

“I think everyone looked at it and said, ‘Well, I’ve got to step up now because we don’t have Sam’ and I think we spoke about that.

“And we did that really well. And she’s still around, you know, she’s still going to reflect on the team.

“I think as a team, it added something to us, it added a fire, added a little bit of extra fire.”

Kerr high fives with stand-in skipper Steph Catley. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson defended his decision to keep Kerr’s calf injury a secret until 90 minutes before kick-off and conceded he had pondered the worst-case scenario in his World Cup planning for this campaign.

“As a coach you always look at different scenarios, ‘What if a centre-back goes down, or what if an outside back goes down, or what if we played without Sam’?” he said.

“We had a couple of opportunities to play without her in these two years (of) preparation, it was important for the team to feel those 30 minutes against France (in the warm-up match) when both Sam and Caitlin (Foord) both stepped off and we managed to win 1-0, and we had 17 players on the park.

“There is a belief in the team.”

It’s hoped Kerr will be back for the third pool game against Canada in Melbourne on July 31.