Sam Kerr will not start for Australia in their massive quarter-final match against France

But Litman

College football and soccer analyst

BRISBANE, Australia — Sam Kerr will not start for Australia in the host nation’s massive quarter-final match against France on Saturday (3 a.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).

Kerr, widely considered the best striker in the world, suffered a calf injury before the Matildas’ opening match a few weeks ago and has only played 10 minutes of this tournament so far. She participated at the end of the round of 16 against Denmark, after the team had already advanced 2-0.

Australia coach Tony Gustafsson said on Friday that Kerr’s readiness would be decided later that evening by the coaching and medical staff. He said if the 29-year-old captain was allowed to play the full 90 minutes, it would start.

“If Sam is ready to play 90 minutes, they will start,” Gustafsson told reporters. “That’s not even a question. And the team knows that. We’ve talked about Sam Kerr, and if she’s ready to play 90 minutes plus extra time? [Friday night]. But there is no doubt at all. if it was [ready], It started. “

Instead, Gustafsson is rolling with the same starting line-up he used in the last 16, which includes Emily van Egmond and Mary Fowler at the top. Gustafsson said several times in the lead-up to this match that Topher Kerr would “challenge me with some of my decision-making” because “a lot of people deserve a head start”. Steve Catley will wear the captain’s armband with Kerr on the bench, as she has in previous matches.

Now the host nation will be eagerly waiting to see how Gustafsson builds on Kerr’s minutes in this game. Will you come in the first half or before? It probably depends on how the game develops.

[Australia’s balancing act: Work in Sam Kerr without disrupting chemistry]

While Australia reached the quarter-finals without Kerr on the field, her teammates confidently stated that they would rather have her on the field than sit on the bench.

“Sam is the best striker in the world,” Van Egmond said this week. “There is no other way to look at it other than that.”

The Matildas will hope to make history on Saturday night by clinching a place in their first World Cup semi-final. Meanwhile, France is trying to qualify for the semi-finals for the first time since 2011. Why blue They have been eliminated in the quarter-finals in the past two World Cups.

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball, and soccer for FOX Sports. She has previously written for Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of Strong Like a Woman, which will be published in the spring of 2022 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.

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