{"id":557466,"date":"2026-03-22T18:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/557466\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T18:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:07:10","slug":"matildas-rally-behind-caitlin-foord-as-sam-kerr-faces-club-limbo-after-asian-cup-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/557466\/","title":{"rendered":"Matildas rally behind Caitlin Foord as Sam Kerr faces club limbo after Asian Cup defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Matildas have backed Caitlin Foord to overcome her Asian Cup heartache as questions continue to swirl around the club future of captain Sam Kerr.<\/p>\n

As Australia’s squad was celebrated at a fan gathering in Sydney on Sunday, a few members of Joe Montemurro’s side had already begun making tracks back to Europe after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Japan.<\/p>\n

Foord and Clare Hunt were among the players to have hopped on early flights back to the UK as the rest of the squad were shown appreciation by a crowd of a couple of thousand fans in Sydney’s Darling Harbour.<\/p>\n

The Matildas’ leadership group declined to speak publicly, leaving it to junior squad members Chloe Lincoln and Wini Heatley to front the media and discuss the loss to the Japanese.<\/p>\n

Matildas endure familiar pain, but will the relief ever come?<\/a><\/p>\n

The Matildas were despondent after losing the Asian Cup final to Japan for the third time, as the golden generation’s shot at a major trophy may have passed.<\/p>\n

Foord was crestfallen at full-time on Saturday and would have left Australia in frustration after an off night in front of goal.<\/p>\n

“Caitlin is a world-class player and we’ve seen many players in world football finish them and not finish them,” Montemurro said.<\/p>\n

“She knows that on any other day she probably would have put them away.<\/p>\n

“That’s life, and that’s the attacking third \u2014 having the coldness and the patience to find the moment and the time to finish.<\/p>\n

“We all gathered around her and she’s got this Matildas group, which is a family.”<\/p>\n

Arsenal forward Foord will head back to the Women’s Super League alongside Kerr, who is facing an uncertain future at Chelsea.<\/p>\n

\"Caitlin<\/p>\n

Caitlin Foord was repeatedly denied by Japan’s defence in the Asian Cup final. (AAP: Dan Himbrechts)<\/p>\n

According to reports in the UK, the 32-year-old will not remain at Chelsea beyond this season and will instead move to America’s National Women’s Soccer League.<\/p>\n

“I’ve heard nothing in regards to Sam’s situation at Chelsea,” Montemurro said.<\/p>\n

“There’s competitive football everywhere, and there’s a lot of big clubs doing some fantastic things.<\/p>\n

Asian Cup final quick hits<\/a><\/p>\n

The Matildas are stunned by a miracle strike and a final chance goes begging on a momentous night for Australian football. Here are the quick hits from the Asian Cup final.<\/p>\n

“So whether it’s Chelsea or another club, I’m sure that Sam Kerr will be in demand.”<\/p>\n

Montemurro’s side is set to return to action in April in a friendly series in Nairobi.<\/p>\n

While the fixtures have yet to be announced, it is expected Australia will take part in a four-team tournament that includes India, Malawi and Kenya.<\/p>\n

India were pumped 11-0 by Japan in the Asian Cup group stage, while Malawi and Kenya are ranked outside FIFA’s top 100.<\/p>\n

Montemurro is expected to experiment as he looks to expose his side to different playing styles before next year’s World Cup.<\/p>\n

“We’ll be leaving a few players home for obvious reasons because they have brutal league scenarios happening,” Montemurro said.<\/p>\n

“I want to have a look at the next generation of players.<\/p>\n

“Africa will be an important one, and playing against African teams, it’s always very, very difficult. So, leading up to the World Cup we’re going to use it as a stepping stone.”<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Matildas have backed Caitlin Foord to overcome her Asian Cup heartache as questions continue to swirl around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5844,41432,64,63,43256,6187,2649,941,44964,44965,588,85],"class_list":["post-557466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-abc-sport","tag-asian-cup","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-caitlin-foord","tag-chelsea","tag-final","tag-japan","tag-matildas","tag-sam-kerr","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557466","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=557466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}