Sam Kerr of Australia, the star of this Women’s World Cup, suffered a calf injury in practise and will miss the first two games of the competition.
The Matildas, who played the Republic of Ireland in their opening World Cup game on Thursday, are severely hampered by the loss of one of the best players in the world.
Kerr posted on Instagram, “Unfortunately, I suffered a calf injury yesterday in training.”
I wanted to let everyone know about this so that we could focus on accomplishing our goals.
The Matildas report that Chelsea forward Kerr will also miss next Thursday’s game against Nigeria but should be available for the encounter against Canada on July 31.
Throughout her international career, Kerr has been an important player for Australia, scoring 63 goals in 120 matches.
At the 2019 World Cup, Kerr scored five goals in four games, including four goals against Jamaica.
Her fourth World Cup will be in 2023; she made her debut in the premier competition in Germany in 2011 when she was 17 years old.
The 29-year-old Kerr has played an equal role in Chelsea’s recent success, winning the Women’s Super League’s Player of the Year title in each of the previous two years as the team won both the league and cup.
Kerr was replaced in the starting lineup by Mary Fowler of Manchester City, who scored the game-winning goal against France in a friendly last week.
In the first minutes of Australia’s match against the Republic of Ireland, 20-year-old Fowler and Caitlin Foord of Arsenal both made strong starts wearing the number 11 jersey.
Fowler will play in his first World Cup game on Thursday after travelling to France with the team as a 16-year-old in 2019 but failing to participate in the competition. At the age of just 15, she made her international debut.
Australia should still have enough talent to advance from the group stages even without its skipper.
