Sam Kerr dares to dream of winning a second Asian Cup.<\/p>\n
But first, the superstar Matilda just wants to get back to having all eyes critiquing her on-field performances.<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old will play her first Matildas game since November 2023 against Wales at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday (Sunday morning AEDT).<\/p>\n
The striker is just happy to put her rehabilitation from an ACL tear suffered in January 2024 behind her.<\/p>\n
“It’s been really nice to feel the support from Australia and from afar, but it’s been also quite draining to keep hearing that ‘when are you back?’ question. So I’m excited to just play and get it over with,” Kerr said.<\/p>\n
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“I absolutely love the people cheering me on, but I can’t wait [for] people to critique my game, talk about me missing that chance of scoring that goal.”<\/p>\n
Kerr, who wants the captaincy back, is confident she can play up to 70 minutes now and hopes to soon go the full 90.<\/p>\n
“Asian Cup is the most important thing to me coming up, so there’s no need to rush it, but I’ll definitely be 90-minute fit in the next month or so,” she said.<\/p>\n
“The Asian Cup is so important. When I last won it (in 2010) I was a young 15-year-old kid, so I didn’t even really get to experience what it actually was like, and now looking back, I was living my dream without even knowing it.<\/p>\n
“So it’ll be good to hopefully lift the trophy \u2026 it would be a dream come true.”<\/p>\n
Kerr dismissed the suggestion winning the 2026 Asian Cup was the “final frontier” for current senior players.<\/p>\n
“Oh, definitely not the final one. I think you’ll find a lot of the girls will continue way beyond the Asian Cup. But it would be a big one,” she said.<\/p>\n
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