Writing’s on the ball as Milicic jabs Kerr over training grumps

The day before Sam Kerr scored four goals against Jamaica she was irate on the training pitch.

Ante Milicic’s message to Sam Kerr on the match ball

The day before Sam Kerr scored four goals against Jamaica she was irate on the training pitch, wondering where her flow had disappeared to.

The joke was on her apparently.

Twenty-four hours later Kerr had her quadruple, and Ante Milicic had his punchline.

The Matildas coach, who had been privy to his striker’s earlier self-flagellation, got in first to sign her match ball.

“I’ve lost my rhythm? Proud of you skipper,” Milicic wrote.

Kerr didn’t notice it until a little while after the fulltime whistle was blown in Grenoble.

Because, amid all the fuss and exhilaration of smashing records and keeping her country in World Cup reckoning, the leading lady forgot all about football’s unwritten rule that the hat-trick hero gets to keep the match ball.

When she did finally claim it, she took a quiet moment to soak it all in. Then she saw her coach’s personalised message.

“Ante wrote on the ball,” Kerr said.

“The day before training I was getting angry and upset that I’d lost all my rhythm and wasn’t playing and training very well.

“He was just laughing at me the day before, so it was a joke that came back to bite me on the butt, because I was saying I didn’t have any rhythm and then I scored four goals. He had a little joke on it and the rest of the girls signed it.

“That will go in the trophy cabinet as my first ever hat-trick at a World Cup.

“This will be something I remember for the rest of my life.”

The 25-year-old won’t be forgetting Tim Cahill’s reaction in a hurry either.

Cahill tweeted an animation of himself and Kerr punching the corner flag, in reference to Kerr’s tribute celebration to the Socceroos legend after scoring her first World Cup goal against Italy.

“I grew up watching Timmy … he’s probably one of my favourite players in the whole world … I guess he’s like an idol but he’s also a friend,” Kerr said.

“You kind of have to pinch yourself that one of your idols growing up and someone you looked up to is commenting on your stuff and you’re in photos with them.”