Australia's Sam Kerr, left, shakes hands with Ireland's Katie McCabe at the end of the Women's World Cup soccer match between Australia and Ireland at Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, July 20, 2023. Australia won 1-0. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) – Star striker Sam Kerr expects to be available for Australia’s must-win Women’s World Cup game against Olympic champion Canada after missing the team’s first two group games because of a left calf muscle injury.
Australia’s captain and all-time leading scorer has been the face of the promotional campaign for the World Cup being co-hosted in Australia and New Zealand but hasn’t yet started in the tournament.
Kerr attended a news conference at the Matildas’ camp in Brisbane on Saturday to assure Australian supporters that she’s recovering.
“I would love to tell you guys everything. It’s going to be down to the wire,” she said. “I’m definitely going to be available.”
Asked again if she would be fit to play, Kerr responded “yes.”
Kerr hurt her calf muscle in a practice session on the eve of Australia’s tournament-opening win over Ireland last week but it didn’t become public knowledge until an hour before kickoff when her name was missing from the team sheet for the starting lineup. The almost 76,000-strong crowd at Stadium Australia had been buzzing until the news went around that Kerr would be missing the game.
She also missed Australia’s upset 3-2 loss to Nigeria in the second group game which left the co-hosts needing a win in Melbourne on Monday to guarantee progression to the round of 16.
The Australian attack against Nigeria was missing both Kerr and her understudy Mary Fowler, who played against Ireland but sustained a concussion in a practice session two days before the second game.
Kerr didn’t say exactly what role she could play against Canada, but confirmed the plan from the start had been to miss the first two games and reassess the injury.
The timing of the news conference, one day ahead of the standard timing for team captains before World Cup games, led to some speculation that Kerr could be ruled out again.
“I’m feeling good. I was out on the pitch today. As good as I can be,” she said. “I’m definitely going to be available but how we decide to use that is not to be given to the opposition.”
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More AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup
