Ben Gilby reports the thoughts of The Matildas stars Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord as they spoke to the media after Australia’s 2-0 win over Denmark last night (8/8/23).
Above: Sam Kerr speaking to the media after last night’s victory over Denmark that saw her play her first minutes this World Cup. Image: Football Australia/CommBank Matildas.
Australia’s star striker Sam Kerr returned to the pitch in last night’s 2-0 win against Denmark and spoke of her overriding relief that injury concerns are behind her at last.
Speaking to the media after the game, the Western Australian said: “Hopefully this is the last time I have to talk about that calf! The girls have been smashing it and it was just a relief to be back out on the pitch.”
Kerr highlighted the team-ethos behind The Matildas’ continued growth in the tournament, which was encompassed by her initial reluctance to take the captain’s armband from Steph Catley when coming on towards the end of the match.
“She’s been leading the team and I didn’t really think the last 10 minutes…Steph’s a natural-born leader, and I know most of the time I wear the captain’s armband, and I didn’t think it needed to come to me.”
As someone who has been at the centre of never-ending national attention about the state of her fitness this tournament, Australia’s all time leading scorer outlined how the team have been trying to block out some of the frenzy to maintain focused on the task ahead.
“Every player has done so well. You know, it’s tough coming home with so much noise around you, but we’ve all stuck together and they’ve all done great, so I’m really proud.”
Caitlin Foord put on, arguably, one of her best ever displays in a Matildas shirt in the win over Denmark, and spoke of her overriding emotions afterwards.
“Pleased, relieved, to have the job done and keep the dream alive.”
Asked about her stunning performance, Foord batted away the personal compliments to focus on the wider team. “It is my job to create and score goals, so I’m happy to see that go in! I’ve always said from the start though, I don’t care who score the goals as long as they go in. It’s a team collective (effort).”
As the tournament reaches the business end, The Matildas are growing and getting stronger with each passing game. Foord believes the host nation are ready for the big challenges ahead.
“It’s massive. Within ourselves, the belief. In the collective, we know we can beat anyone on any given day. We’ve set the benchmark now of where it needs to be (our performances) and we have to keep taking it up another notch.”
With a record-equalling crowd of just under 76,000 roaring Australia on last night, the Arsenal star now urged the Queensland fans to bring on more of the same for Saturday’s quarter-final against France or Morocco.
“It was very loud! The next call now is to Brisbane to bring it on and get it louder to help get us along.”
Follow Impetus on social media – we’re @ImpetusFootball on Threads, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. DON’T MISS our brand new TikTok platform @ImpetusFootball too!
impetusfootball.org 