It’s approaching midnight in mid-June 2019, deep in the bowels of the Stade de Nice on the outskirts of the French Riviera city, when Sam Kerr appears. Not unlike her movement on the football pitch, the striker moves with an aura of mystery – one minute she is nowhere to be seen, the next she materialises in front of you.
But in that moment, Kerr would have wished to be anywhere else. The Matildas captain is notoriously media-averse. Fronting up to the travelling Australian press pack minutes after the Matildas had been knocked out of the Women’s World Cup on penalties, with Kerr blazing her spot-kick high and wide, was nothing less than a nightmare.
Yet front up she did. Standing there, fighting back tears, Kerr held herself accountable. “I had been trusted to take it and I was confident in taking it and I just skewed it,” she said. “I’ll grow from this and become a stronger person mentally.”
It was a heartbreaking moment, a rare instance when someone wrapped in the armour of sporting icon status suddenly becomes all too human. Even Australia’s best female footballer, arguably the nation’s greatest ever, could miss a penalty in a knockout match at a World Cup. Sport is fickle, sport is cruel – and in that moment, Kerr confronted the lonely reality of carrying a nation on her shoulders.
But just as she was ready to depart for the sanctuary of the dressing room, the striker paused to offer a parting message: “We’ll come back.”
And four years and one month later, here she is: holding court at the Matildas’ final press conference before the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Kerr has been largely absent from team media commitment in recent months, but there was no avoiding this one. Captain, attacking ace, one of the best footballers in the world – here was the woman who could lead Australia to World Cup triumph.
“Of course everyone in Australia has a lot of expectations,” Kerr said, gazing out at a sea of journalists crammed into Stadium Australia’s press room. “But it’s something I take in my stride, I try and just enjoy it.”
One major change since France 2019 has been Kerr’s move to Women’s Super League side Chelsea, where she has scored almost a goal a game and won league titles and cup trophies. Kerr cites her time at the club as a learning experience in managing pressure. “I think back at Chelsea I’ve done that too, just enjoyed it,” she said. “And that’s when I’m my best me.”
The outside expectation, the wave of collective jubilation, hope and anxiety that will await Kerr on Thursday as she walks out to a record crowd, is “white noise”. “I know what’s expected of me from my coach and my team and that’s all that really matters right now,” she said.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, questions about the weight of expectations on the Matildas came thick and fast on Wednesday. Not unreasonably – it could prove decisive, determining whether the Matildas succeed or succumb on the road to the final. But Kerr responded to the questions with a straight bat, giving nothing away about her own inner demons, whether any mental scars linger from France.
“As a team it’s going to go up and down, we have to just live in the moment,” she said. “We spoke about it briefly today – it’s OK to feel nervous, it’s OK to get overawed by the crowd. That’s life, that’s football.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the Ireland coach, Vera Pauw, was asked how her team could stop Kerr. “Ask Sam Kerr,” she replied. It was a flippant answer, but it leads towards a deeper truth. Kerr subsequently said while “we have a lot of respect for Ireland … it’s about us tomorrow.”
The Kerr effect has been so total that teams will try to contain her whatever the cost. Either her decisiveness in the split-second that matters will render any amount of marking ineffective. Or she will be a black hole on the pitch, drawing in defenders and freeing-up abundant space for her teammates. Pick your poison: attempting to constrain the Matildas captain may only leave Caitlin Foord, Cortnee Vine, Mary Fowler or Hayley Raso to wreak their own havoc.
But it comes at a cost for Kerr, too. As much as she tried to underplay it on Wednesday, no single player will bear more expectations this tournament, on and off the pitch. The Matildas have sought to cocoon the players from the hype as best they can, Kerr first and foremost. But as captain, as the very face of this much loved team, Kerr knows the buck stops with her. Just as it did in France, concluding bleakly in the depths of the stadium’s concrete jungle, that nightmare in Nice.
Will this time be different? Can Kerr withstand the pressure and deliver the Matildas to the promised land? After four long years of waiting, in four short weeks we will have an answer.
Kerr was coy when asked directly if Australia would win the World Cup. But she gave the most self-assured pronouncement yet to come from within the Matildas camp. “Everyone’s here to win,” she said. “I’ll keep my cards close to my chest, but we’re really confident.” As Kerr promised four years ago, the Matildas are back.
