Sam Kerr’s spin cycle as Marta and the Brazilians go home

Shania Twain’s Man, I Feel Like A Woman was blasting over the loudspeakers at Matildas training. Sam Kerr boogied on over to join her teammates.

Goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold at Matildas training in Brisbane. Picture: Getty Images.

Sam Kerr is going around in circles with her injury. All she keeps doing is walking laps of an oval in Brisbane. She might play against Denmark and she might not. The cycle of her existence.

It seems less urgent now. The Matildas could win the World Cup without their captain. Their lightning strike of a 4-0 win over Olympic champion Canada proved there’s more than one string to the attacking bow. Mary Fowler is a mighty back-up, sharp as a knife, and yet you’d rather have the best player in the world on the paddock.

If Paul Hogan’s Crocodile Dundee was coaching the Matildas, he’d be keen on replacing Fowler with Kerr against Denmark in Sydney on Monday night and saying, “That’s not a striker. THAT’s a striker.”

Kerr walked out to train with the Matildas at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre on Thursday. Shania Twain’s boppy song Man! I Feel Like A Woman! was blasting over the loudspeakers. Kerr boogied on over for a chat with her teammates, stretched her legs, scratched her nose, wriggled her toes, toyed with a ball at her feet and then all witnesses were removed from the premises.

You’d need a Freedom of Information Act to procure more meaningful details from any of the side’s training sessions. Attendees watch the first 15 minutes, knowing nothing happens in the first 15 minutes anyway, and then depart like it’s Act III of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale: “Exit. Pursued by a bear.”

Goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold approved of Twain’s song and sounded optimistic about Kerr making a comeback against Denmark. “It was a banger,” she said about the nineties tune.

“That was a good choice. Sam has her own individual plan that she’s doing with the doctor and physio, getting her ready to join in with the team. What she had to do, she looked like she was quite comfortable doing it.

“She was in high spirits after the session, so I assumed it all went well.”

Without hiring a helicopter – boss? – to actually see if Kerr ran like the wind or sat on her haunches after the media lockout, it was impossible to gauge her availability for the round of 16 clash. I suspect she’s not running with the team, still sore and unsure of how far to push her damaged calf.

The Danes were in the dark, too, which is the point of the secrecy, of course, uncertain if they’re preparing to defend against Kerr, or Fowler, or both. Round and round it goes. Where will it stop? Nobody knows.

Matildas veteran Clare Polkinghorne said: “I feel like we’re in a really good spot. We topped the group. We were under pressure in the last game and the way we went about it against Canada – the way we prepared, the way we executed, it was just a really mature, professional performance by us and it gives us a lot of confidence. As a team we almost like it more when our back’s against the wall and the pressure is on us. Being Australian athletes, we’ve got that in our DNA. The never-say-die attitude that has been ingrained in us.”

The group stage ended on Thursday night. Half the teams are going home. See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya. Among those calling taxis to the airport were the footballing powerhouses of Brazil, Italy and Argentina. The revered Marta and her Brazilian side were the Matildas’ projected quarter-final opponents but they were eliminated by a draw with Jamaica’s rapturous Reggae Girlz in Melbourne. When Peter Allen’s baby smiled at him, we know what happened. He went to Rio. De Janeiro. My-oh-me-oh.

Brazil’s highly rated players are heading there, too, but they’re not especially excited about it.

An emotional Marta, 37, confirmed her sixth World Cup had been her last. “For me, that is the end,” she said.

Polkinghorne said of the first superstar of women’s football: “I mean, Marta’s an absolute legend of the game for what she’s been able to do for women’s football. To inspire young players, male, female, just lovers of football, she was everyone’s idol. Six World Cups is absolutely incredible and she’s going to go down as one of the best ever.”

The Reggae Girlz reached the round of 16 for the first time.

Coach Lorne Donaldson was so thrilled he did a somersault on the pitch at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium. That’s what FIFA calls AAMI Park. The MRS? Not a bad somersault for an old bloke and then he did another.

“Jamaicans need no reason to celebrate,” he said while boasting of a massive spike in interest in football in the Caribbean.

“They’re going to celebrate like we’ve never seen before.”

The 156-cap Polkinghorne debuted for the Matildas in the relatively anonymous old days of 2006. “I love putting on the jersey,” the 34-year-old said.

“It’s pretty easy to stay motivated to play for this team. I’ve always wanted to leave the jersey in a better place than when I found it. That’s the aim of this team.

“That’s not just my personal goal, it’s all of ours. I think we’ve taken on that responsibility as players and hopefully we’ve been able to achieve that in some sort of small way. If I’ve inspired someone along the way, then I’m pretty happy with that.”