Will she play? Won’t she play? It is a measure of how far the women’s game has come that so many column inches have been dedicated to a single female player’s quad niggle over the past few days.
Sam Kerr’s triumphant return to Australia for the first time since signing for Chelsea FC in January was dampened somewhat by the news that the Matildas captain might not make an appearance at all. “If I’m good, I’ll go,” she told a packed press room two days before Australia took to the field for their first Olympic qualifier against Taiwan, slightly bewildered at how much interest there was in her upper leg muscle.
And when the line-up was announced at Campbelltown Stadium on Friday – with Kerr not starting for the first time since the Matildas played England in a friendly back in 2018 – there were more than a few eyebrows raised.
Kerr’s meteoric rise in recent years has led to questions over whether the Matildas have become over-reliant on her at the expense of developing alternative avenues of attack. The dangers of such dependency were evident at July’s World Cup when Kerr was marked out of the games against Italy and Norway and Australia struggled to improvise or find answers to questions they had not been asked before.
But Friday’s 7-0 demolition of Taiwan showed just what a Kerr-less Matildas can look like. Ironically, the striker’s niggle appeared to be a confidence-booster for the side, allowing other players to step out from beneath her ever-lengthening shadow and claim the spotlight for themselves.
Caitlin Foord, who will be linking up with Kerr in the FAWSL after joining Arsenal last week, was the most impressive. Usually deployed as a winger, Foord was moved into the No 9 role – a position she is not unfamiliar with, having rotated with Kerr regularly over the years – but had yet to truly prove herself when used there in competitive fixtures for club and country.
Inside 37 minutes, Foord had her first competitive international hat-trick, and in a style quite different from that which Kerr offers. Indeed, Australia had already put five past the luckless Taiwanese by the time Kerr took to the field just after the hour mark. The Chelsea star may have taken just five touches to score, but her presence on the field felt, for the first time in years, somewhat unnecessary.
Head coach Ante Milicic said as much afterwards. “With a lot of the training that we do, and particularly the tactical build-up with Caitlin as a nine, we felt she could play that role. As too could Kyah [Simon]. But they were linking really well at training and in those scenarios that we had, so with Sam coming in late – she was a little bit sick as well, and with the injury – we persisted with [Foord].
“I feel [Foord] really does that role excellent; she’s the one player that can naturally hold up the ball and keep it moving and bring other players into the game, so delighted with the way it worked out. And as well, the fact that Sam could come on as planned for 30 [minutes] to get a goal, that’s just giving us a little bit more options moving forward.”
Foord was not the only player who took her opportunity to shine. Everton-bound Hayley Raso was a constant threat down the right wing, nabbing her fourth international goal in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, while the newly-recalled and injury-free Kyah Simon looked, according to Milicic, “a new player”.
Emily van Egmond, deployed at her more natural position as a creative No 10, notched up three assists across her 45-minute spell including a sensational first-time cushioned volley to set up Foord’s third. A goal each to vice-captain Steph Catley and Katrina Gorry, herself also re-called after injury, added further to Australia’s attacking stocks.
Granted, Taiwan – ranked 33 places below the Matildas – offered about as much resistance as tissue paper in the rain that threatened to make the game a grim affair, but Australia looked like a side rejuvenated; one that has benefited from the extra training facilitated by the fixture switch from China to Sydney and one that is filled with renewed purpose following a disappointing World Cup. With just under 80% possession and almost six times as many shots, it was a wonder the Matildas did not end up in double figures.
However, Australia weren’t entirely convincing at the other end of the park. Taiwan skewered two golden opportunities in the 32nd minute when captain Chi Ting – their sole goal-scorer against Thailand on Monday – found herself in space near the penalty spot but fluffed her shot wide, and again in the 61st minute when in-form attacker Lee Hsiu-chin nipped the ball away from a barrelling Lydia Williams but saw her acute empty-net attempt rebound off the post.
Minimising these errors will be key to ensuring Australia finish top of their group – a contest likely to be decided on goal difference after China beat Thailand 6-1 earlier in the day – but they can rest easy knowing that if Kerr’s quad continues to ache, they won’t be left wondering who to turn to next.
