{"id":552060,"date":"2026-03-20T04:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/552060\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T04:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:35:09","slug":"doubts-surround-sam-kerr-fitness-after-press-conference-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/552060\/","title":{"rendered":"Doubts surround Sam Kerr fitness after press conference withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Emma<\/p>\n

March 20, 2026 \u2014 1:53pm<\/p>\n

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Accor Stadium\u2019s press conference room has a lot to answer for when it comes to Sam Kerr.<\/p>\n

It is the place where, three years ago, the Matildas captain pretended she was ready to play the next day\u2019s 2023 World Cup opener, when she had actually injured her left calf and was no chance.<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Kerr is greeted by fans as she arrives at Sydney Airport on Wednesday evening.Max Mason-Hubers<\/p>\n

And the place where, straight after that 1-0 group-stage win over Ireland, then-coach Tony Gustavsson readily admitted he had known Kerr was injured<\/a> as he sat poker-faced next to her.<\/p>\n

The trickery outraged some quarters of the public and engendered praise from others, who respectively viewed Gustavsson as either dishonest or simply a coach who knew it sometimes takes a gamble to outdo an unsuspecting opponent.<\/p>\n

Regardless, the scars from that episode clearly remained the day before Australia\u2019s Asian Cup final against Japan, when Kerr was pulled from the pre-match press conference she was supposed to attend with coach Joe Montemurro.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Steph<\/a><\/p>\n

Kerr had been listed as the chosen player representative in an email alert sent out at 4.44pm on Thursday. Then, at 8.53pm, Football Australia sent out an updated alert listing Ellie Carpenter instead.<\/p>\n

Naturally, when media arrived at Sydney Olympic Park on Friday and filed into that same press conference room, the unexplained change was one of the first queries.<\/p>\n

\u201cSam\u2019s done a lot of press,\u201d Montemurro said. \u201cSo I think we like to share the love with all that \u2013 I think it\u2019s even more special to have Ellie here after the great game she\u2019s played from that perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Sam\u2019s fine. Everything\u2019s fine. We\u2019re all ready to go. And I\u2019m so happy for her and proud of her because she\u2019s really shown why she\u2019s such a world-class player in this tournament. And world-class players, as I keep on saying, manage the moments in big tournaments. She\u2019s done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that was that. Nothing to see here. Except that everyone left still wondering: was Kerr fit to play? Had she aggravated her knee? Had all those minutes, so soon after returning from such a long ACL rehabilitation, taken their toll?<\/p>\n

The answer may come at Matildas training on Friday afternoon, when media will be permitted to watch the first 15 minutes \u2013 effectively the warm-up \u2013 and see if Kerr is present.<\/p>\n

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