‘It’s up to the player’: Matildas coach won’t say whether Kerr will play against Kiwis

3 months ago 22

Matildas fans may not see Sam Kerr play in Gosford on Friday night, with coach Joe Montemurro offering only a “we’ll see” as the striker’s training load is carefully managed across two crucial pre-Asian Cup friendlies with New Zealand.

But the final decision on how many minutes Kerr ultimately plays against New Zealand – and in the second clash with the Football Ferns on Tuesday in Adelaide – will be left up to her.

Sam Kerr trained with the Matildas under a restricted load in Gosford on Thursday.

Last week, Montemurro said Kerr was “ready to go” despite his captain sitting out two consecutive games for Chelsea: draws against Liverpool and Barcelona on November 16 and November 20 respectively.

But on the eve of the first sold-out game, having overseen Kerr’s restricted training in the Central Coast heat since landing in Australia this week, Montemurro was less than unequivocal.

“She’s on a [specialised] plan that we need to just make sure we build her up onto that, and she’s tracking really, really well,” he said on Thursday, adding that the Chelsea absences were “pre-planned”.

Having made her Matildas return in last month’s away friendlies with Wales and England, these games would mark her first appearance on home soil in the two years since the 32-year-old ruptured her ACL.

Arsenal pair Caitlin Foord and Steph Catley were in high spirits despite the heat.

“We’ll see, we’ll see. We’ll just see where it’s all at the moment. As I said, it’s all going well, everything’s all going to plan, and I need to make sure that what’s best for her in that sort of scenario. Is it minutes tomorrow? Is it minutes the next game? We’ll just wait and see.

“I always leave it up to the player. Every player in the team knows their body better than anyone else, and knows where they want to be.”

While Montemurro had “not even thought about the starting XI” some 24 hours before the match, he knows exactly how much risk he is willing to take on Mary Fowler three months out from an Asian Cup that will determine whether Australia qualify for the 2027 World Cup.

Fowler is flying through rehabilitation from her own ACL tear and, from all reports, is set to return to training with Manchester City just before Christmas with designs on returning to play after the Women’s Super League’s Christmas break.

The race against time evokes memories of Kyah Simon’s shock 2023 Women’s World Cup selection despite having not played for eight months since doing her ACL.

Montemurro’s predecessor Tony Gustavsson had said the veteran, then 31, had recovered enough to come into calculations as a “game-changing” substitute in the tournament’s knockout stages.

Simon suffered a pre-tournament setback and did not play a single minute, meaning the forward’s presence in the 23-player squad was effectively a wasted spot.

Fowler’s circumstances appear different at least on paper, in that she is only 22 and Montemurro hopes the talented-yet-enigmatic attacker (“I know exactly where she’s going to play … I’m not going to tell you”) might by then already be back playing full games.

“It’s a good question because when you look at a knockout tournament you need to bring a squad that has all the balance that you require,” Montemurro said.

“But also even thinking about scenarios that could happen - going one player down early on, a nil-nil, bringing it into extra time – what those sort of players can bring.

“Am I looking at players playing minutes? Yes, I am. Obviously that’s logical, because it’s the game rhythm and then they come in here already at a certain level.

“We have to be sensible with Mary, we have to see where she’s at. I hope she gets two or three 90 minutes before she comes into camp, but her quality is of a world-class level so we have to consider in the squad.”

The Matildas will open their home Asian Cup campaign against the Philippines in Perth on March 1, before rounding out the group phase against Iran and South Korea.