It was the moment everyone came out to see: hometown hero Sam Kerr scoring for Australia on her return to Perth.
It took little more than 13 minutes as the household name and former Perth Glory striker headed home from a few yards out, to earn the Matildas a 1-0 victory over Philippines in the opening game of the Asian Cup.
Unsurprisingly, the 32-year-old received the loudest cheers throughout the night and responded with her first international goal since November 2023.
More surprising was the sight of Kerr playing all 90 minutes, having declared she was short of full fitness ahead of the match.
Despite concerns about her match fitness, Sam Kerr played the full 90 minutes against Philippines (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
That situation and scoring her first Matildas goal in two years three months — her 70th goal for Australia — explained the lack of her customary backflip celebration. Kerr is saving those for later in the tournament. However, the moment and occasion remained special.
“It means a lot to be back in the team, back scoring, and to do it at home is extra special,” said Kerr in the post-match mixed zone at Perth Stadium, moments after briefly catching up with an “overwhelming” amount of friends and family who came along to her homecoming.
“We just went up and saw them, then I got one second to talk to everyone because there’s so many of them! But it was really nice.
“Hopefully (the goal) starts me off on a good run for the rest of the tournament. When I scored, I probably thought we’re going to go on and score a couple more. You don’t think it’s going to be the only goal, so the most important thing is that we got the win.”
The fact the Matildas’ Perth training base ahead of their opening fixture is named the Sam Kerr Football Centre says all you need to know about the Chelsea striker’s standing in the city.
However, if things go to plan this will be Kerr’s last home outing of her home Asian Cup.
Australia are scheduled to play the rest of their fixtures on the east coast, between venues at Gold Coast and Sydney, providing they win Group A — and that is the expectation, alongside the hosts lifting the Asian Cup for the first time since 2010.
The Matildas’ run to the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup co-hosted with New Zealand, felt like a seminal moment to the country at the time. Its legacy was expected to be a successful Asian Cup on home soil three years later.
A Women’s Asian Cup record crowd of 44,379 ensured there was some positive momentum and support from the start, eclipsing the previous benchmark of 18,000 set at the 2014 tournament in Vietnam — albeit with the 2022 Asian Cup in India held behind closed doors due to the COVID pandemic.
But success always comes with good timing and so far, that has been questionable for Australia.
Starting goalkeeper, Brisbane Roar’s Chloe Lincoln, was effectively fourth choice and a late call-up to the squad by head coach Joe Montemurro. AIK’s Jada Whyman was ruled out of the tournament on the morning of the opening match after suffering a recurrence of a recent knee injury in training, OL Lyonnes’ Teagan Micah had already left the squad after issues from a concussion suffered during club training in France, while experienced Portland Thorns stopper Mackenzie Arnold barely trained last week due to a calf problem. DC Power’s uncapped Morgan Aquino has also been drafted.
In the end, Lincoln’s competency was barely tested on her fourth cap, in which Australia had 88 per cent of possession after the opening 34 minutes.
That they could not add to Kerr’s opening goal, nor cut open a side they beat 8-0 in a Paris Olympics qualifier in Perth little more than two years ago, will be the cloud that hangs over Australia’s opening outing of a tournament. And that will linger until the Matildas kick off their second Group A game in Gold Coast on Thursday.
However, they will do that against an opponent whose situation makes Australia’s issues seem insignificant.
Iran begin their campaign, also in Gold Coast, on Monday against South Korea. Their women will do that against the backdrop of an escalating crisis at home, where joint U.S.-Israel airstrikes launched on Saturday were followed by retaliatory missile and drone strikes by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The death of Iran supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the initial attacks was raised at the start of Iran’s pre-match media conference on Sunday, held with head coach Marziyeh Jafari and captain Zahra Ghanbari.
The initial question, asked in Farsi and then English, was answered in Farsi by Jafari according to the Australian Associated Press, before an AFC media representative — who did not translate her response — shut down further questions.
The situation in Iran has already lead to speculation its men’s team could withdraw from this summer’s World Cup, where it is scheduled to play group games against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt in Los Angeles and Seattle.
While there has been no suggestion the continued participation of its women’s team in the Asian Cup is being reconsidered, the difficulties in focusing on football performances with such unsettling scenes at home are both easy to understand and hard to imagine.
“I don’t want to speak about things that are not in my remit in terms of politics and so on, but I think football is an amazing family and with the Asian Cup, we can showcase some amazing athletes and some amazing people,” said Montemurro at Australia’s post-match media conference.
“We want to make sure the focus is on football and giving moments and special situations to people. So we hope we have a good game against Iran and showcase how beautiful this game is.”