It’s difficult to imagine what will be remembered more about this semifinal Sam Kerr’s breathtaking goal, or the absolute sitters she missed as her Matildas chased their World Cup dream against England.
Kerr was left stunned by missing opportunities she would usually score from, but Socceroos legend turned Channel Seven commentator John Aloisi voiced his theory about what happened shortly after fulltime. ‘I will put it down to fatigue with Sam,’ Aloisi said.
‘She did a lot of running and trying to stretch the opposition by running in behind and linking up. Then her legs gave in at the end. ‘That is why she wasn’t able to take those opportunities’.
‘She came on last game and played longer than she expected to play. Her legs were probably gone a little bit. ‘That is when you start snatching at things. The two chances she had, she was snatching at them.
Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson was in a no-win situation with Kerr had he not put her in the starting side, fans and experts would have lashed out at him. And after she scored that goal, he would have been grilled if he’d taken her off the field to get a player with fresher legs on.
Sports commentator Charlotte Marsh summed up the out-of-character play from the striker when she said: ‘Two huge missed chances from Kerr now which is practically of.’ Kerr was over-the-moon after the goal, grabbing the Australian badge before making a superwoman gesture toward the delirious crowd. But the champion started to tire in the second half and the missed opportunities followed.
With the Lionesses holding onto a 2-1 lead, a corner kick rebounded straight towards Kerr inside the penalty box. With the moment begging to be taken, the Matildas’ skipper somehow sent the half volley over the crossbar.
Seven’s commentators read Kerr’s lips as she reacted to the miss and said ‘that’s my bread and butter’. Post-match she was reeling from the loss. ‘I think I did everything I can to be back in this tournament,’ the devastated star said.
‘If I trained more than five times this World Cup maybe I would’ve sunk that.’ But, like the classy star she is, Kerr found something positive despite the defeat. ‘I have to think of all the things the team’s done and I’ve done to be where we are now and inspire the nation.
‘I think that’s kind of the only thing that’s keeping me smiling right now, is the way that we’ve inspired the nation, everyone’s got behind us,’ she said. A poignant moment captured minutes after the match saw England star and captain Millie Bright – a friend of Kerr’s hugging her in commiseration.
‘We’re all just really proud of each other and just wish we could’ve got over the line. ‘But no matter what happens I wouldn’t want to be on any other team. This is my team, my mates, my best mates, I love them all to death.
Gustavsson said Kerr had been super classy both on and off the pitch following the semifinal loss. ‘It’s a bit emotional to sit here and talk about that when you lose a semifinal because I hate to lose, but football is bigger than 90 minutes,’ he said. ‘We’re very disappointed in the loss, but hopefully we won something else. We won the hearts and the passion for this game in this country.’
