Ante Milicic prepares to name Matildas squad for World Cup

Matildas captain Sam Kerr has signed off from club duty with a two-goal haul and a declaration of intent for the World Cup.

Matildas captain Sam Kerr. Picture: Hollie Adams

Matildas captain Sam Kerr has signed off from club duty with a two-goal haul and a declaration of intent for next month’s World Cup.

Kerr scored a double and made a goalline clearance despite taking a boot to the head in Chicago Red Stars’ 3-1 win over reigning NWSL champions North Carolina on Monday morning (AEST).

After the match, Kerr’s last before heading into a pre-tournament camp with the Matildas, she told reporters “see you after the World Cup”, before adding, “with the trophy”.

Kerr will be Ante Milicic’s first pick when the World Cup squad is announced on Tuesday.

The spine of the team from the past four years will remain unchanged.

Goalkeeper Lydia Williams is the irrefutable number one, with Steph Catley, Alanna Kennedy, Clare Polkinghorne and Ellie Carpenter the first-choice defence. Emily van Egmond, Elise Kellond-Knight are the midfield fulcrums. In attack, Australia are blessed with strong options alongside Kerr; Caitlin Foord, Hayley Raso, Emily Gielnik and Lisa De Vanna among them.

After that, predicting the squad gets a lot tougher.

Spain-based pair Alex Chidiac, Aivi Luik are likely additions in midfield, along with Tameka Yallop (nee Butt).

Chloe Logarzo, Kyah Simon and Katrina Gorry have been Matildas mainstays but have struggled with injury in recent months. If fully fit, they’re nailed-on selections.

Milicic’s decision to extend his squad to 25 players — picking a firm 23 but taking two extras for a pre-tournament camp in Turkey — may have been influenced by their injury clouds.

Simon, who has scored at the last two World Cups, has just one substitute appearance in 2019 at club level and didn’t play for club side Houston Dash on the weekend.

If Milicic is to pick the 27-year-old, he would be doing so on reputation and not his stated criteria of form and fitness.

In her place, a gap could emerge for one of Australia’s teenage forwards, Mary Fowler or Princess Ibini, to make the squad or the train-on positions.

The Matildas will gather in Antalya, the site of the Socceroos’ pre-World Cup camp last year, this weekend to begin their preparations for France.

They play European champions the Netherlands on June 1 before kicking off their Cup campaign against Italy on June 9.

AAP