Australian superstar Sam Kerr was photographed with a heavily strapped right calf on Tuesday in pictures that will strike fear into the hearts of Matildas fans everywhere.
Kerr has been on the bench for the majority of the Women’s World Cup after injuring her left calf on the eve of the tournament.
Now, it seems, Kerr may have trouble with her “good calf” after she was filmed walking into the team’s hotel with what seems to be an ice pack on her leg by 9News.
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“Kerr’s right leg, the good leg, was heavily strapped when she returned to the team hotel after training,” the report stated.
Kerr was earlier filmed at training with no strap on either calf.
Kerr missed all of Australia’s group matches and only made two cameo appearances from the bench in the knockout wins over Denmark and France.
9News’ bombshell report came as Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson dropped the biggest hint yet that Kerr will again come off the bench in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final.
Kerr came on after 55 minutes in the pulsating quarter-final penalty shootout win over France that saw Australia book its place in the final four for the first time, slotting a penalty and racking up significant game time as the match went to the full 120 minutes.
The temptation is to rush her back for the biggest game in Australian football history, but Gustavsson is likely to hold her back with the coach keen to have his best players on the pitch when the game is on the line pointing to “chemistry” being crucial.
It also helps that young gun Mary Fowler has been in stunning form for the Matildas which will give Gustavsson confidence that there are other players who have the talent and belief to get the job done without Kerr being the lone threat.
“When it comes to Sam, she pushed through more minutes than we initially hoped for,” he said.
“One of the reasons we kept her on the bench was that we were uncertain how many minutes she had (in her) coming back from the calf injury and the limited training she had.
“The way she pushed through was fantastic and impressive, both from a mental and physical aspect.
“She recovered well and she trained today so she’s available.”
Gustavsson has had the luxury of using a settled line-up throughout the tournament, but Aussie fans hoping for an early squad announcement will have to wait until Wednesday night with a final meeting with his staff to decide the starting line-up.
The Matildas will start outsiders for the game at Accor Stadium against the fourth-best team in the world on Wednesday at 8pm, and while Gustavsson concedes England have plenty of strengths, he says the hosts have one major advantage that can get them over the line.
“If you look at rankings, they’re the favourites,” he said.
“If you look at where their players play, they have starters playing in top clubs in top leagues all over the world. Not just the starting 11 – they have 15 or 16.
“And you compare that to us where we have bench players in those teams, we have players in the A-League and we have players playing in mid-table teams in Sweden, so if you look at all that and you look at resources financially, then they are a massive favourite going into this game.
“But, if you then add the belief we have and the one thing they don’t have, which is the support and the belief from the fans.
“That in itself is going to be massive tomorrow.”
