There was no viral soundbite from Samantha Kerr after her match-winning performance against Jamaica on Wednesday morning.
Compared to her fired-up post-match performance in the aftermath of Australia’s dramatic and crucial 3-2 win over Brazil, in which she told the haters to “suck on that one”, Kerr was almost angelic in assessing her role in the 4-1 win over the Jamaicans.
Of course, there probably is not much of a need to do a whole lot of talking after you’ve become the first Australian to score a hat-trick at a football World Cup, plus an extra goal just to help your team finish second in the group.
Almost single-handedly, Kerr produced the sort of ruthless goal scoring performance she has become known for in the W-League with Perth Glory and the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States.
This time, Kerr did all her talking with her feet (and her head) to confirm her spot as one of Australia’s greatest ever sportspeople and drag the Matildas into the knockout rounds with her, avoiding the likes of Germany and France in the process.
Serious concerns remain around the Matildas as they plot their path to Nice where an impressive Norway awaits, but in Kerr, Australia boasts a bonafide superstar of the game who can inspire her team to victory.
Despite the scoreline, Australia was wasteful in midfield and leaky in defence.
The result should certainly be celebrated, but the performance leaves a lot to be desired.
The enormous contribution of Kerr over the course of the group stage has thus far papered over many of the cracks.
She might not have scored against Brazil, but her movement in the front third certainly caused the Brazilians plenty of headaches, causing uncertainty among the Brazilian defenders (even if the referees didn’t judge her to be actively involved in the crucial third goal) which contributed massively to the second and third goals on the day.
Her role was a more active one against Jamaica, as she ruthlessly exploited a nervy Jamaican defence over and over again.
She outjumped her markers, avoided them all together and harassed them into two mistakes for the easiest of tap-ins.
This really was the Sam Kerr show.
Only the Italians have coped with Kerr so far this tournament, and even they could not do so without dragging her down to give away a penalty.
In Kerr, Matildas coach Ante Milicic has a weapon which is truly the envy of almost every other team in the competition.
His problem is finding new ways to find her in goalscoring positions.
It was only against Jamaica that the Matildas tactic of getting the ball wide and into the penalty box had any real joy.
Successes in the final third against Brazil were somewhat fortunate, while there was almost no success in these ventures down the wing against Italy.
Kerr might boast a tremendous leap, but she has better feet and it is hard to imagine her having the freedom of the penalty box to run into against a much more organised Norwegian team.
Sam Kerr. (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
It is also worth noting that, while no one wants to take the gloss of Kerr’s supreme efforts, she was the third player in as many games to score a hat-trick against the Jamaicans.
As the Matildas progress to tougher challenges in the match (hopefully matches) to come, the one-dimensional attacking approach of the Matildas needs to be urgently addressed by Milicic and Co.
There’s nothing wrong with relying on a mercurial talent like Kerr to score the goals you need to win a World Cup, but if that’s Australia’s route to glory, then Milicic’s team will need to find a more reliable route to Kerr and a more efficient system for keeping goals out at the other end.
Manage that and Kerr will handle the rest.
Nemesis
Guest
Inch perfect cross for the first goal. Closer to the GK the GK comes out & plucks the ball out air. Ball goes 2m to the left or right or is under-hit by 2m & Kerr doesn't score. Put on some boots, join a football team that plays outdoor competition & you might learn more about how football is played. Football video games are no substitute.
Late kick off
Roar Rookie
Agreed. Matildas best performances over last few years have has KK in the holding role and VE further forward. We seem to be improving but are still a bit behind the US, France, England and the Dutch. Norway will be a real test.
Waz
Roar Rookie
“It was only against Jamaica that the Matildas tactic of getting the ball wide and into the penalty box had any real joy“ That is correct. Against Italy we tried, and tried, and tried the same tactic ... and failed. 4-1 wasn’t a great result considering the opposition. But, it’s “job done” even though we’ve dropped ourselves into the harder half of the draw. Kerr is good but not great, she can’t carry this team alone and tougher opponents will try and mark her out of the game. We aren’t playing well enough to suggest we can win this and some of the other sides have been seriously impressive while we haven’t. Hoping with some pressure off our girls can relax and find some form, especially in midfield.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Inch perfect your delusional. It was from way back and floated in, Kerr and the defender both got under it because they had time. It doesn't need to be inch perfect because the ball travelled about 40m and they had time to move during the time it was in the air. It would have been better being a meter or 2 closer to the goal becuase that way Kerr could have still got to it and the goal keeper would not have been able to reach it. The one from Raso was slightly in front of Kerr and needed to be inch perfect because it wait hit hard and high from a much shorter distance there was no way Kerr had a chance to touch it. Play it along the ground and the striker can stick a foot at it, but they aren't going to be able leap forward in the air in that fraction of a second.
reuster75
Roar Rookie
The key to this team is Kellond-Knight. Put her in midfield with VanEgmond and VE becomes a totally different player. KK will help dictate the tempo and screen the back four which allows VE to play slightly more advanced role which she's better suited to. Polks back in defence helps as Catley moves to LB thus creating more play down the left side. I'm hoping that now we're out of the group we'll finally put in better performances.
Nemesis
Guest
If you played football, you'd know that ball for Goal 1 is intended & it was executed perfectly. Kerr's header was outstanding. But, without the inch-perfect ball into that specific spot, Kerr won't score. Of course the ball from Raso was intended for Kerr. It was directed straight to her, but it came in fast & she didn't make contact, but was lucky it ricocheted straight back to her from the Jamaican defender. The video is literally on this website for you to scrutinise again & again.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
she missed a reasonable chance in about the 6th minute of the Brazil game
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Two bread and butter cross and header goals, good team play, good service, good finishing from Kerr - if you're going to give her metres of space within 10m of the goal mouth, well, she will always be a good chance to score. As for the other two goals, well it was less a case of Kerr harassing, and more a case of below par play from the Jamaicans gifting kerr two absolute gimmes with an open goal mouth, I'm talking absolute gifts, the Jamaicans presenting the ball to Kerr on a platter for her to tap in! That's unlikely to happen from this point on.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
goal 1: it was just a ball into the mixer and it was a long way from goal and crossed from too far back. goal 2: correct goal 3. Ball wasn't cut back to Kerr, it was a cross from short range hit hard across goal and the Jamaican defender who deflected the ball to Kerr. The lead up work was good , but your better off hitting hard across goal at a lower height. Goal 4. the error was made under pressure from Kerr. I think your kidding yourself if you think that she has missed any chances against Italy and Brazil that were remotely in the category of the last 3 chances. She has had a few heading chances on par with the 1st goal but was better marked by Italy and Brazil.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Totally agree Matthew. Kerr won't have that much space in the box in the knockout games. Anton seems locked in to the possession game but the players too often pass the ball to the other team, or when they manage to retain it, they move it out wide just to lob it into the box. We do have players capable of carrying the ball into the box, as Raso showed, and others who score from outside the box (Gielnik, Gorrie). Van Egmond's quite capable of some lovely assists up front but is being wasted at DM (where she's a liability, gives away a goal every match including this morning). Maybe the few injuries have unsettled selections at the back. I thought Jamaica's passing accuracy was better than ours last night, and they were strong on the ball. They outmuscled us 1v1 and outpaced us much of the game. We still have a way to go before we gert back to the form we showed when we beat the US last year.
Nemesis
Guest
Kerr did not do this on her own. If you play football you'd realise Kerr cannot finish unless Goal 1: Gielnik puts the inch-perfect, perfectly weighted, 40 metre pass into the spot for Sam to head. Goal 2: Katrina Gorry has the vision to play the perfectly weighted pass for Sam to head Goal 3: Hayley Raso goes on a sublime run dribbling into the box in the tightest spot to cut the ball back to Kerr Goal 4: Jamaican GK makes a terrible error. Yes, Sam Kerr did really well to score in all 4 instances. Other players might've missed. Sam Kerr has missed the same situations against Netherlands, Italy & Brazil in the past 2 weeks. But, the goals would not be possible without others helping her.
Onside
Guest
The easiest way to assist Kerr is for other players to score.