Of all of the accidents star gamers suffered earlier than the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicked off, this one would possibly harm probably the most.
Sam Kerr hasn’t been dominated out of the event, after all, the best way England‘s Beth Mead, France‘s Delphine Cascarino, The Netherlands‘ Vivianne Miedema or the USWNT’s trio of Catarina Macario, Mallory Swanson and captain Becky Sauerbrunn all have been.
Yet Thursday, as a sensible matter, the impression was largely the identical. Australia’s undisputed headliner and maybe one of the best pure striker within the girls’s recreation, Kerr was unable to swimsuit up for the Matildas’ uncomfortably slender 1-0 opening day win over the Republic of Ireland due to a calf ailment she sustained in coaching the day earlier than.
It’s severe sufficient that Kerr has already been dominated out of the Aussies’ second group recreation towards Nigeria. Calf strains might be notoriously sluggish to heal. The standard restoration time is one to three weeks. Even if she is in a position to play within the first-round finale towards Canada, how nicely and for the way lengthy stays to be seen.
Either means, this is a crushing blow for Kerr, her nation and the competitors as a complete.
Aussies and neutrals alike are clearly hoping Kerr recovers before later; that she solely misses the opener and the Matildas’ second recreation, then returns to declare her function because the face of Australia/New Zealand 2023 and, if all goes to plan, the trophy when it is all stated and accomplished.
But this is unhealthy information made worse by the truth that it seemingly got here out of nowhere, lower than an hour earlier than the match towards the Irish was set to kick off and whereas their fellow co-host Kiwis have been closing in that nation’s first World Cup win. The timing makes all of it extra surprising and all of the extra merciless.
This occasion is supposed to be the 29-year-old’s Kerr’s shining second. It’s supposed to signify a once-in-a-lifetime alternative for Australia’s hottest athlete, on the top of her powers and proper in her athletic prime, to present what she will be able to do on the most important stage her sport has to supply and in entrance of her personal adoring public.
“World Cup Tonight” crew reacts to Sam Kerr’s injury
Almost 76,000 fans clad within the Matildas’ amber shirts — a vital share of them emblazoned with Kerr’s identify and well-known No. 20 on the again — packed into Stadium Australia Thursday to cheer for his or her hero, to see Kerr lead her nation towards what they hope will probably be its first title when the World Cup closing is staged at the exact same area Aug. 20.
It’s laborious to overstate how beloved Kerr is in a nation that prefers its personal kind of soccer — Australian guidelines — plus cricket, rugby and even basketball to girls’s soccer. Her face was already in all places lengthy earlier than the Aussies started selling the nation’s maiden World Cup; it has been further ubiquitous in latest months because the tourney quick approached.
Last summer time, Kerr grew to become the primary feminine soccer participant to be featured on the worldwide cowl of EA Sports’ FIFA online game franchise, alongside Frenchman Kylian Mbappe.
In May, Australia’s prime minister chosen Kerr, who performs her membership ball for London’s Chelsea, to carry her nation’s flag on the coronation of King Charles III.
Kerr is an all-world participant, however she’s a lot greater than that. It’s not a stretch to say that at this second, she is maybe Australia’s most revered ambassador to the remainder of the world.
Australia vs. Ireland highlights
That we now know she will not give you the chance to play till at the least the group stage finale is a intestine punch to the nation from coast to coast, not to point out soccer fans in each nook of the globe.
The Matildas should now dig deep and discover a means to win with out their principal scoring menace. The unconvincing victory over World Cup debutant Ireland proved as a lot.
Despite their monumental home-field benefit, Australia managed simply two shot heading in the right direction all night time. Twice the Irish got here shut to the equalizer within the dying moments. Still, beating Nigeria would all however guarantee the Aussies a spot within the second spherical and take some strain off Kerr to return in time to face the harmful Canadians, the reigning Olympic champs.
It will not be simple, although. Kerr can win a match by herself. She’s the straw that stirs Australia’s drink, and Tony Gustavsson’s workforce — which is not among the many favorites to win the title even with Kerr on the sphere — is a totally different, far much less harmful one with out her.
There’s nonetheless time for a storybook ending, after all. This World Cup has solely simply begun. The closing is nonetheless a full month away. Kerr ought to be absolutely wholesome by then, however the clock is already ticking, and it is truthful to wonder if Australia is able to surviving lengthy sufficient with out her to get there.
For her workforce, her nation and her sport, Sam Kerr cannot get again on the pitch quickly sufficient.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer author for FOX Sports. Before becoming a member of FOX Sports in 2021, he was a workers author with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has lined United States males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups at a number of FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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