Sam Kerr is nearly 10 months down the road from her ACL injury but neither her club nor country has any idea when she will be ready to pull on the boots again, with interim Matildas boss Tom Sermanni saying her comeback will take as long as is needed.
Sermanni will steer the national team for the first time since 2012 when Australia faces Switzerland in a friendly in Zurich on Saturday morning (5am AEDT), having been appointed as caretaker coach while Football Australia searches for a permanent successor to Tony Gustavsson.
Sam Kerr has been sidelined with an ACL injury since January.Credit: Rick Rycroft
Kerr won’t be there in the stands, and nor has she made an appearance this week despite Sermanni extending an invitation to the 31-year-old, who hurt her knee in early January while on a training camp with her club, Chelsea, in Morocco.
While ACL injuries typically sideline players for anywhere between nine and 14 months, Chelsea coach Sonia Bompastor said this week that it was “difficult” to say when she would return. Last month, Kerr told the BBC’s Women’s Football Weekly podcast that her recovery was taking longer than she’d hoped and that she had “a little bit more going on than the ACL” without elaborating.
“There aren’t any real timelines on her coming back,” Sermanni said.
“I have talked to Sam, and the key thing that I think everyone’s stressed – the Chelsea staff, the Chelsea medical people and their own people – is that it’s really important for Sam to take as long as it takes to make sure she comes back fully without cutting any corners.
Sam Kerr in hospital after knee surgery.Credit: Sam Kerr/Instagram
“That’s the process that she’s taking. At the moment, she’s in the midst of that and really having some important parts of her treatment. So at this stage, she won’t be joining us on this tour.
“What happens a bit later in the year, we’ll address at that time because I honestly don’t know. But again, the key premise in all of this is getting Sam back on the football field as safely as possible and to make sure when she comes back, she’s going to come back for a long time.”
After next week’s clash with Germany, the Matildas have four more matches scheduled before the end of the year – and all of them are in Australia, against Brazil (Brisbane and Gold Coast) and Chinese Taipei (Melbourne and Geelong).
Until then, Sermanni’s focus is on getting the team back on track after their Olympic disaster in Paris, where they crashed out in the group stage, leading to Gustavsson’s departure after four years at the helm.
A good result against the world No.25-ranked Swiss, Sermanni said, was more important right now than a good performance – mainly for mentality-related reasons but also because of the crucial FIFA ranking points on offer, which can shape the draws for major tournaments or qualification campaigns.
“I think the team was a bit beaten up after the outcome of the Olympics. There’s no point in denying that,” Sermanni said.
“The confidence within the group, within this squad, was a bit low because obviously this team has got high expectations. But I think athletes are resilient. To play at the top level, you have to be resilient. You have to come back and bounce back after bad results or bad tournaments.
“To be honest, I think the team did come into camp feeling a little bit low. But a couple of days on the training field, everybody’s back together again, and the mood, from my perspective, has been upbeat and very positive.”
Every member of Sermanni’s 23-player squad is fit and available for selection, he said, although caution will be taken with players such as stand-in captain Steph Catley, who has been limited to just two appearances for Arsenal in the FA Women’s Super League this season due to injury, and 18-year-old young gun Daniela Galic, who is poised to make her international debut this window – probably off the bench.
Sermanni tried to sign Galic at Western Sydney Wanderers, in his previous guise as the club’s head of women’s football. She has since moved to Dutch outfit FC Twente.
“She’s a rising talent. She ticks all the football boxes, she’s got the qualities that’s going to make a high-level professional player,” he said.
“I had a meeting with her yesterday and she settled in really well in the Netherlands. It’s been really good for her … getting her into a full-time professional environment has certainly helped her confidence and helped her development.
“If you look at my history, I’m not afraid to bring young players into teams … my intent is to do that, but it needs to be at the right time in the right environment to give them the best chance to succeed, as well as making sure the team succeeds.”
