Pegged back to 1-1 in their Asian Cup semi-final against defending champions China in Perth and struggling to escape their own half, Australia’s women’s national team seemed one lapse of concentration away from a second deflating semi-final exit as expectant tournament hosts in just three years.
Then, approaching the hour mark, up stepped Sam Kerr in her home city.
The Chelsea striker not only relieved the pressure by taking the ball just inside Australia’s half, but she also played a one-two with Arsenal’s Caitlin Foord, rounded goalkeeper Chen Qiaozhu and finished from a tight angle, giving her side the win.
Coming after her crucial second goal in the 2-1 win against North Korea in last week’s quarter-final, Kerr, who labelled herself “85 per cent fit” before the tournament, is edging much closer to the height of her powers.
“Sam is an amazing athlete, an amazing player, and you can see her get better and better with more minutes under her belt, and how sharp she’s been in finishing,” defender Ellie Carpenter, also Kerr’s team-mate at Chelsea, told The Athletic following Australia’s win.
“Two match-winners in the last two games were so important for us and she leads this team very well.”
It had been more than two years without an international goal before the Asian Cup due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament and the long journey back to consistent performances.
Now with four goals, including the only one in the opening game against the Philippines, she is one adrift of the tournament’s leading scorers, team-mate Alanna Kennedy and Riko Ueki of Japan, who face South Korea in the second semi-final on Wednesday.
“That’s why she’s a world-class player,” Foord said of Kerr. “You can be quiet for 89 minutes and (then) she has one minute and scores a goal.
“I know I can find her in those spaces and she’ll do something special. I’m just happy she’s back playing and I get to play alongside her again.”
While Kerr’s 136 international appearances and all-time leading 73 goals across the men’s and women’s national teams are impressive, the captain’s influence on Joe Montemurro’s team runs deeper.
“Her presence in and around the squad is immense,” said Montemurro in his post-match media conference. “I’ve witnessed a person who embraces everyone. We love having her around from that perspective.
“She’s got this way about her (where) she’s likeable and she believes in what we’re trying to do — believes in the group and loves playing for her country.
“We all see the goals. But watch her movement off the ball. That’s the making of a world-class player.”
As the final whistle blew, Australia could celebrate reaching their first major soccer final since losing against Japan in the 2018 Asian Cup. The home players swarmed into a celebratory huddle but Kerr took a different path, shaking hands with her Chinese opponents before carrying on the exercise one by one with her team-mates.
There would be no more fitting development in Kerr’s career than to add major silverware to her list of individual accomplishments. Winning the Asian Cup in Saturday’s final at Stadium Australia would also be another significant sign of progress after the transformative yet galling 2023 World Cup semi-final loss to England in Sydney.
“We’ve been fighting so long to get here and finally, it’s paid off,” said Foord. “We deserve to be playing for a trophy because we’ve been so close so many times and just fallen short — normally, at this hurdle.
“We got over it this time and we will give everything to finally win a trophy together.”
While the remaining goal is obvious, the tournament itself will be considered a success.
Total attendance across the three host cities broke the 200,000 barrier after the weekend’s quarter-finals — including the highest-recorded crowd for a Women’s Asian Cup match not to feature the host nation, as 13,321 fans took in Japan’s win over the Philippines at the 83,500-capacity Stadium Australia on Sunday.
The headline figure is despite what organisers would have seen as the limiting factor of Australia playing at Perth’s 20,000-capacity Rectangular Stadium on Friday in their 2-1 quarter-final win over North Korea, a result of them finishing as runners-up behind South Korea in the group stage.
Optus Stadium hosted 35,170 fans on Tuesday night, half of its capacity, reflecting the unexpected nature of the Matildas’ return to Perth for a sixth time in 10 months, as well as Australia’s limited exposure to midweek sports events when much is funnelled into every weekend.
Despite the numerous discounted ticket offers to boost sales, the tournament’s organiser, the Asian Football Confederation, confirmed that more than 300,000 tickets have been sold.
Australia’s progress will be a further boost for Saturday’s final at Stadium Australia, where the hosts will bid for their first major trophy since the men’s team hosted and won the Asian Cup in 2015. The Matildas’ previous title was the 2010 Asian Cup in China.
Having made the final, the key question becomes whether the Matildas and Kerr can clear the final hurdle.
“We want everyone to come out and support this amazing group of players,” said Montemurro. “But the biggest thing is to just watch the game with a lot of pride and belief, because this group loves playing for the nation and represents something special.
“Watch them for what these amazing role models have done for not only women’s sport but for the sporting landscape in Australia.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Australia, International Football, Women’s Soccer
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