Mum can’t watch as Sam saves day
SAM Kerr’s mum Roxeanne Kerr must have had a hunch her daughter was about to propel the Matildas into the AFC Asian Cup final when she disappeared from the stands just before the shootout began at King Abdullah II Stadium.
When Sam was told Roxeanne disappeared and didn’t watch her score the winning penalty yesterday in a super tense semi-final win over Thailand after 120 minutes had the sides locked at 2-2, she smirked before claiming she had seen it all before.
“When my brother [Daniel Kerr] won the 2006 AFL Grand Final for West Coast Mum and Dad [Roger Kerr] went to hide in the toilets until the final siren,’’ Sam said.
“My sister is probably the same, she’d be hiding somewhere. But the only shootout I’d seen my mum hide from was when the Socceroos qualified for the 2006 World Cup, she was outside.”
Sam scored the winning penalty in a 3-1 shootout win after Matildas keeper Mackenzie Arnold made three consecutive penalty saves from the spot to keep Australia in the game. Emily van Egmond skied the first spot kick over the bar and Lisa de Vanna had her attempt saved.
Elise Kellond-Knight scored from the spot and so too did Steph Catley before Sam jagged the winner.
“I didn’t even think about the penalty being the last one, I thought it was a tie,’’ Sam said.
“I was pretty calm and that helped and I stepped up and put it in the way I normally do. “It went in thankfully.” Sam was unleashed off the bench for Emily Gielnik in the 70th minute when Thailand was leading 2-1 and looked destined to cause an upset.
As soon as she was on the pitch, the dynamics of the team changed before Alanna Kennedy nodded an equaliser into the back of the net from a Kellond-Knight corner a minute into stoppage time.
After Thailand scored three goals including an own goal opener for Australia in the first half, Sam’s presence enabled the Matildas to settle after she described the entire performance as a nightmare.
“We played one of our worst games and it was good to get it out of the way,’’ Sam said.
“We’re lucky it wasn’t against Japan or China but you’re going to have those games and credit to the girls we stuck it out, we’re smiling now, we’re in the final.”
Australia faces Japan in the final at Amman Stadium tomorrow after the Japanese beat China 3-1 in the other semi. Australia and Japan faced off in the 2014 Asian Cup final, which the Japanese claimed 1-0 in Vietnam.
With Sam still smarting from a sore hip from the 1-1 draw with Japan last weekend, Matildas medicos will keep a close eye on her to monitor her recovery.
Matildas winger Chloe Logarzo is also a worry, sporting a black eye after the Japanese clash.