Kerr expecting a tight tussle
FOR Sam Kerr and the Matildas, there’s one positive to take away from their belowpar Asian Cup semi-final outing against Thailand. They won. They needed an injury-time equaliser and a penalty shootout against the lowly ranked Thais, but they won.
“We found a way,” Kerr said. “It was frustrating. A frustrating day. When people start getting frustrated, myself included, that’s a tough way to play football. It’s two games in a row we’ve scored after the 80th minute. That’s not easy. The main thing is we’ve made the final for the third consecutive time.”
And that’s where the Matildas are drawing a line under their shocking semifinal, now putting all their energy into tomorrow morning’s final with Japan.
Kerr said any video analysis of the 2-2 (3-1) win was likely to be highly selective ahead of the final to ensure the mood stays positive. And why not?
It is, after all, the highest honour open to the Matildas short of the World Cup and the Olympics.
“Any time you get to play in a final, everyone’s buzzing. Especially playing against Japan, one of the best teams in the world,” she said. “We’re well up for it. We’re excited and this is what we came here for. We’re pumped.”
Kerr has played her role in the rivalry with Japan. She found the equaliser in their group-stage clash earlier this week, and scored a hat-trick in their previous meeting — a 4-2 win on the way to their Tournament of Nations success. Australia also prevented the former world champion from reaching the 2016 Olympic Games with a 3-1 win in Japan.
But the Nadeshiko have their fair share of triumphs, knocking the Matildas out of the 2015 World Cup and claiming the 2014 Asian Cup final, both with a 1-0 scoreline.
Kerr predicts another tight and tense affair.
“It’s another chapter in the rivalry,” she said. “We got the better of them in the Tournament of Nations. They got the better of us other times. This is a new game and none of those games will affect this one. It will be super tight.”