Sam Kerr on the sidelines.Credit:Reuters
The bombshell was dropped when team sheets were released barely an hour out from kick-off at Stadium Australia. Kerr has been named on the bench but will not play.
Instead,Mary Fowler will start up front with Caitlin Foord,with vice-captain Steph Catley handed the captain’s armband in Kerr’s absence. The rest of the starting line-up is as expected,but the 29-year-old’s injury has thrown a late curveball that coach Gustavsson and his players will have to deal with.
“Unfortunately I sustained a calf injury yesterday in training,” Kerr wrote on Instagram.
Sam Kerr will miss Australia’s first two World Cup matches with injury.Credit:Edwina Pickles
“I wanted to share this with everyone so there is no distraction from us doing what we came here to achieve. Of course I would have loved to have been out there tonight but I can’t wait to be apart (sic) of this amazing journey which starts now.”
It is the worst possible start to the tournament for the Matildas,who will now be without their most reliable marksman against an Irish team that is expected to sit back in a low defensive block and try to frustrate the hosts while springing forward on the counter-attack. The Girls in Green will now,surely,draw confidence from the fact that they will not have to contend with Australia’s best player.