Kerr playing catch-up
SAM Kerr’s boots are used to being golden.
In the past two years she has won four top-scorer awards across two continents and holds the National Women's Soccer League all-time record for a single season.
And yet Kerr will have to engineer a few more celebratory backflips to win this year’s World Cup gong because the race is already heating up and she’s not near the front.
United States co-captain Alex Morgan leads the count after scoring a record-equalling five in last week’s 13-0 embarrassment of Thailand.
And that’s after only one game, with the US playing Chile overnight.
Right behind Morgan is Brazil’s second all-time leading scorer Cristiane, who netted a hat-trick against Jamaica and added a fourth against the Matildas. And Italy’s Cristiana Girelli has thrown her hat into the ring with her own hat-trick against Jamaica. If this Group C pattern is anything to go by, the Matildas’ third game against the world No.53 Reggae Girlz could be the ideal scene to kick-start Kerr’s catch-up. Not that she minds who does the business, so long as it gets done.
"I don't care who scores the goals if I score none and we win the World Cup,” she said.
In that vein, Caitlin Foord and Chloe Logarzo’s goals against Brazil demonstrate that the Matildas boast a breadth of scorers if they’re on song.
So too do the world No.1 US, and Morgan’s quintet is all the more impressive when considering that Germany’s Celia Sasic won the 2015 golden boot with six goals. Akers still holds the record for most goals at a single tournament, having tallied 10 at China 1991.
It’s a target that could be smashed in France and there are several dark horses chasing the pace-setters. DERBY is understood to have opened talks with Chelsea target Frank Lampard over a new managerial contract to keep him with the English Championship side.
Rams bosses appear determined not to let Lampard leave for former club Chelsea without a fight and will offer him improved terms in a bid to ward off the English Premier League side’s interest.
Derby is still braced for an approach from Chelsea which is understood to want Lampard to replace Maurizio Sarri in the Stamford Bridge hot seat. Juventus is poised to unveil Sarri as its new manager on a three-year deal, with Chelsea having secured a compensation package it is understood could rise as high as $18 million.
Lampard notched a clubrecord 211 goals in a stellar Chelsea career from 2001 to 2014 and racked up 106 caps for England.
The 40-year-old has had just one year in management, but steered Derby to the Championship playoffs in his sole campaign.
Lampard has two years left on his current Derby contract, but the club is understood to want to tie him down to a long-term deal.
Lampard’s assistant Jody Morris could also make a return to his former club, to bolster the Blues’ backroom staff.
Derby could hold out for $7.5 million to hand Chelsea the green light for talks with Lampard, but the Blues would likely be unfazed given their impressive return on the severance package with Juventus over Sarri.