{"id":247675,"date":"2025-10-29T02:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T02:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/247675\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T02:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T02:33:08","slug":"matildas-launch-fierce-defence-of-sam-kerr-amid-criticism-of-captaincy-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/247675\/","title":{"rendered":"Matildas launch fierce defence of Sam Kerr amid criticism of captaincy call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Kerr’s teammates and coach have rallied behind their star after a backlash at her reclaiming the captain’s armband for the Matildas’ friendly match with England.<\/p>\n

Teammate Caitlin Foord said Kerr’s critics “don’t know who Sam is as a person”, while coach Joe Montemurro said Kerr being captain was the best scenario for the team.<\/p>\n

During Kerr’s two-year absence with injury, she was involved in a high-profile court case in London<\/a>, during which video was released of her arguing with a Metropolitan policeman.<\/p>\n

‘One we want to forget’: 10-player Matildas humbled by England <\/a><\/p>\n

The Matildas were criticised for playing at “walking pace” as two-time European champions England dominate at Derby’s Pride Park.<\/p>\n

Kerr, who admitted she was very drunk, was seen talking about involving lawyers from her club Chelsea and acting in a way that many perceived as “don’t you know who I am?” behaviour.<\/p>\n

Less attention was paid to the fact that the following day she reported to the police station as asked, on her own without any lawyer.<\/p>\n

The charges against her were dismissed by a jury within four hours of deliberations, but memories of the case have lingered.<\/p>\n

After the Matildas were beaten 3-0 by England in Derby<\/a>, Montemurro was incredulous when asked what he had to say to people who don’t think Kerr should be captain.<\/p>\n

After having the question repeated because he thought he’d misheard, he said: “We’ve made a decision internally for what we believe is the best for a football performance and for the group.<\/p>\n

“I make football decisions. I’m not going to make any political decisions. I’m purely football. Sam is an important part of what we’re trying to do.<\/p>\n

“As far as we’re concerned, we just kept the status quo. Going forward we’re happy with her continuing on as captain.”<\/p>\n

Foord also dismissed the argument that Kerr should not be skipper.<\/p>\n

“People don’t know who Sam is as a person, so that’s probably where that comes in,” she said.<\/p>\n

“She’s a leader. If Australia is watching football, it’s pretty clear what she brings. And the real football fans would be able to see that. For us internally, we know what that’s about.”<\/p>\n

Chelsea teammate Ellie Carpenter also backed Kerr.<\/p>\n

\"Ellie<\/p>\n

Ellie Carpenter, Kerr’s teammate for both club and country, launched a passionate defence of her skipper. (Getty Images: Chelsea FC\/Darren Walsh)<\/p>\n

“Sam’s always been our captain,” she said.<\/p>\n

“She was out for a very long time. Having her presence back in this squad is very important for us.<\/p>\n

“She’s a big player, she’s very important to the team, she brings a lot of experience.<\/p>\n

“She’s changed football in Australia. For us having her on the team is a massive boost for us.”<\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that’s making headlines.<\/p>\n

Carpenter stressed Kerr would need time to get back to full sharpness.<\/p>\n

“She’s just coming back from a long injury, so she’s trying to find her feet, hit the ground running again,” Carpenter said.<\/p>\n

“Having multiple minutes in the national team, she’s probably very happy with that and hopefully can build on that for the next game at Chelsea.”<\/p>\n

Foord said she expected Kerr to have a renewed hunger for the game.<\/p>\n

“She’s had a long injury, she’s had a lot of time to miss the game,” the Arsenal forward said.<\/p>\n

“She won’t take a game for granted now when she puts on the green and gold, any shirt in general, because it can be taken away from you very quickly.”<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Kerr’s teammates and coach have rallied behind their star after a backlash at her reclaiming the captain’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,43256,132254,596,28526,44964,44965,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-247675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-caitlin-foord","11":"tag-ellie-carpenter","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-joe-montemurro","14":"tag-matildas","15":"tag-sam-kerr","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}