‘We’ve waited a long time for this’ – Chelsea’s Kerr eagerly awaits Australia’s World Cup opener

Almost all FIFA Women’s World Cups have that one player by which the tournament will be remembered and defined. That singular entity who is plastered across posters and emblazoned on the back of shirts.

At the last tournament in 2019, United States star Megan Rapinoe took the reins; her purple hair, outspoken political voice, and irrefutable footballing acumen acting as a beacon that drew the eyes of the world like never before.

Star players are the tip of the spear for the biggest sporting event in the world. This year, that honour is bestowed upon Australia’s Sam Kerr. She is the figurehead of a tournament hosted by her home nation and has the footballing ability fitting of the role. The CommBank Matildas’ captain will lead her team out in their opening match against the Republic of Ireland tomorrow before a crowd of more than 70,000.

“I’m really excited about playing in front of a packed stadium,” Kerr said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “As a team, it’s going to go up and down, so just live in the moment. We’ve waited a long time for this game.”

No doubt there will have been discussions in the dressing room in the build-up to such an historic fixture and the eyes of many Australian players may have turned to Kerr as the emotions and reality kicks in.

“We’ve spoken about it,” Kerr said when discussing the enormity of the occasion. “It’s okay to feel nervous, because that is life, that’s football life. We can talk about it, it’s about being in the moment and supporting one another; 50,000 the other day against France in Melbourne was amazing. We dealt with it really well.

“It’s nice when they’re going to be cheering you on rather than booing you.”

Latest opponents the Republic of Ireland will be making their FIFA Women’s World Cup debut against the co-hosts with their sights firmly set upon spoiling the party. Kerr says that Australia are just focusing on themselves.

She said “I think we just play our game. We’ve watched some of their previous games and when they played the US but it is about us, it’s about nobody else.

“We need to make sure that we are on top of our game. Every team brings new challenges but it is about us; if we play our game and our way, we just adapt to what comes at us.

“We have a lot of respect for Ireland, they’ve had a lot of good results lately. We have to be respectful of that.”

Australian hopes are high going into the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Kerr is at the centre of that. If Australia are expected to go deep into the competition, they need to have their attacking fulcrum firing on all cylinders. If that is the case, they will certainly eclipse their round of 16 exit at the last tournament and there’s no reason why they can’t go all the way.

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Ryan Lee Gregory

I am Ryan Lee Gregory a writer and reporter for FA Women’s Super League Full-Time. I am also a documentary filmmaker.

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