Sam Kerr to make final call on Matildas minutes
Jasper Bruce |
Sam Kerr will have final say on how heavily she features in the Matildas’ final two games before the home AFC Asian Cup, following concerns over her knee issue.
The superstar forward has been operating on a restricted training load since arriving in Australia for two internationals against New Zealand, her first games on home soil in two years.
Kerr only returned from a 20-month anterior cruciate ligament injury lay-off in September and missed Chelsea’s last two games before flying out as part of her continual recovery.
“She’s on a prevised plan that we need to just make sure we build her up onto that,” Matildas coach Joe Montemurro said in Gosford on Thursday.
Montemurro claimed he had not yet determined whether Kerr would start against the Football Ferns in Friday’s sold-out clash, which looms as crucial to teh team’s Asian Cup preparations.
“I haven’t even thought about the starting XI, I’ll be honest with you,” he said.
“We’ve got a few players that have just come off flights and are being managed. We’ll put out two very good teams over the next two weeks.”
A tight-lipped Montemurro responded “we’ll see” on whether the plan to manage Kerr’s knee injury would involve cutting her minutes come Friday night.
Ultimately, that call will be left in his captain’s hands.
“I always leave it up to the player,” Montemurro said.
“Every player in the team knows their body better than anyone else and knows where they want to be.
“It’s all going well, everything’s all going to plan, we just now need to make sure what’s best for her in that sort of scenario – is it minutes tomorrow, is it minutes in the next game (on Tuesday)? We’ll just wait and see.”
Montemurro says he has a concrete plan for the Matildas’ other marquee forward Mary Fowler once she returns from her own ACL injury.
Predecessors Tom Sermanni and Tony Gustavsson at times struggled to get the best out of Fowler, who was particularly quiet during the underwhelming Paris Olympics campaign that led to Gustavsson’s resignation.
Unlocking the 22-year-old shapes as crucial to the Matildas’ present and future, but Montemurro is undaunted by the challenge.
“I can’t wait to work with Mary because I know exactly where she’s going to play,” Montemurro said, though would not elaborate on that role.
Fowler is expected to be back training with Manchester City just before Christmas, with Montemurro hopeful she plays a handful of complete games before the Asian Cup.
“I hope she gets two or three 90 minutes before she comes into camp, but her quality is of a world-class level. We have to consider her in the squad,” he said.
Montemurro expects defender Charli Grant should be fit in time for the Asian Cup after a knee injury sidelined her last week from the New Zealand clashes.
“We think she’ll be right by Christmas and then post-Christmas, we’ll determine where she’s at in terms of game time and so on,” he said.
AAP
